Using the point of the blade in most sword styles but especially in the Western styles is one of the most effective techniques, as stabbing into your opponent is harder to parry and block than slashes and hacks. You can make contact with your opponent's blade, think you have successfully made a party and STILL get run through.
That is not to make it seem as though this is some case of one type being so much more effective. When it comes to sword fighting there has long been a tension between approaches that emphasize stabbing, lunging and pin point accuracy and those that are more concerned with angles, slashes/cuts. But make no mistake, the thrust in the hands of a person with the attributes to pull it off successfully can be deadly and effective in the extreme, because of the damage, yese, but also because it is not as easy as one might think to defend against.
