You are probably right, but I'm really turned off by this game, for reasons hard to explain.
For instance, one of the things I am looking for in an open world game is the lore, the sensation of having an adventure in a beautiful far away land, the atmosphere. Skyrim, for as old as it is, was really amazing to me, and there was nothing like crossing a mountain under a snowfall with the music of Jeremy Soule; even if Skyrim's combat is horrendous. Dragon's Dogma never gave me this impression from what I have seen of it (and again, I may be completely wrong), though the combat indeed seemed quite fun.