I actually do have it. A very cool producer on the Ryse team personally sent me a copy after hearing about my family situation, and that I had to cancel my system and game pre-orders as a result. They even tossed in a really cool, limited edition book (which they and other team members signed) about the game along with a t-shirt also.
So, I have the game. I'm just lacking a console at the moment, which I likely won't be able to afford until around April or May next year. And from lots of gameplay footage I've seen, it seems a lot of people don't realize that you can combo faster and more effectively by occasionally alternating between the X and Y button. The shield push doesn't just serve as a tool for opening an enemy's defenses. The player can also wield it a number of ways as part of their combination attack. It's very much a weapon for attack also. I've seen the shield used as part of a spinning backhand attack, I've seen it swung wildly to hit enemies in the face etc. I think that's part of the reason the character's weight is distributed the way it is after a lot of the sword attacks. At that point the quickest possible way to land another attack on the opponent is to follow up with the shield, because trying again with the sword is slower because it requires the character to reposition ever so slightly to launch the next sword attack, and thus gives them time to recover and block or dodge. I assume this is mitigated some if you land perfect hits, though.
The irony of giving out combat advice without being able to play it personally