Last year I completed Beyond: Two Souls and recently I began playing Heavy Rain (I'm about half way done with it). And it got me thinking... Ryse should have been marketed for its story and graphics not gameplay. Much like games from Quantic Dream.

Think about it, Ryse is a cinematic game with lots of button prompts, fantastic visuals, and a good story. It should be praised for being a well executed cinematic experience the same way Quantic Dream titles are praised. Not trashed for being a mediocre hack n' slash game.

Eh?

The issue is that Ryse spends quite a bit of time being a mediocre hack and slash and forcing you to go through wave upon wave of adversaries that have little to do with the story. Heavy Rain doesn't really do the same, every moment is entrenched in the story. Same reason people like Telltale titles or any other of those types of point and click adventures. If Ryse were a point and click adventure maybe it would get praised for its story, but that's tough to say because it would be a totally different game and go from a fairly short game to a criminally short game.

Was the story that good that it could carry the game?  Haven't heard that many ppl praising it.

While I enjoyed the cinematic story and top notch voice acting, I felt the story wasn't that great. Sure there were a few standout moments and plot twists, but nothing really gripping, or memorable. Everything that was presented I've seen several times in video games, such as revenge, and corruption.

No, we should be bashing Heavy Rain and Beyond as much as we do Ryse. ;)

Fixed. 

QD's last game wasn't really praised, so...

Somehow I doubt that the devs saying "hey guys, focus on the story and graphics, not the gameplay" would have taken this game from critical flop to critical success.

Fuck you, diversity!

I hear the gameplay was sub par too.