If you haven't played Morrowind yet, do it. Amazing game. Just one thing so you don't get confused: Hit or miss is calculated like in those old school topdown RPGs, so if you miss even though your weapon clearly connects, check your stamina/skill value.
And a hint for easy start: Redguard character with combat specialization and long blade as major skill. This allows 50 starting value for long-blade, enough each hit is guaranteed as long as you have max stamina (and incidentally Redguards do well on that part as well...).
Alternatively Wood Elf with stealth spec and marksman as major skill for ranged combat.
With easy to hit at the beginning, the skills raise quickly and you'll get more leeway on "spending" stamina for running or whatever.
Of course, Morrowind is old enough one shouldn't start it without some mods: Specifically Code Patch (has various useful optional features along with many engine bug fixes) and some unofficial patch, such as Patch for Purists for comprehensive and simple bug fix collection.
If you play Morrowind, my biggest piece of advice is to keep your stamina high in combat and HOLD your attack button until you fully raise the weapon, then release. This will increase your ability to hit enemies and you won't just be playing invisible whack-a-mole.
Otherwise, the game is a fucking beauty.
Actually, holding attack does nothing to hit chance. Instead, it increases damage. For example, if a weapon has 1-10 as its damage value, single click causes 1 damage on hit, while holding until the weapon's fully drawn back and then releasing deals 10 damage. At least nominally, this is further modified by strength for melee weapons (50 being no modifier, less than that reduces damage and more than 50STR increases damage)