Genuinely didn't expect to like this game as much when I was playing it for the first few hours, and was more or less certain that I would either push through it or shelf it. The story is difficult to follow, becuase it's told in a slow way for a very fast-moving game, making it difficult to stop and read. However, the ending felt really worth it, and I overall had fun with it. Visually and musically striking, it's level design is a bit chaotic and hard to read at times, but I recommend giving it a try. It could do without the collectibles, I think.

Play this game for the world, not the story. It demands a lot of you, but gives a lot back. It's incredibly rewarding, being forced to travel from point A to point B with no fast-travel whatsoever, only to be distracted by a rock sliding blocking your path, that you can shoot down with a catapult not too far away; two giant monsters fighting on the distance while you just happened to stumble upon a balista that's aiming in their direction; or the griffin you fought a while ago that fleed, terrorizing a nearby settlement, that you can recognize because his health bar didn't recover.
The world of Dragon's Dogma 2, and how it interacts with you is filled with charisma. Its story and characters, not so much.