Yes, I think so.
In fact, I really can't think of any negatives about it. You could argue that the game requires you to do side quests to attain the required level to progress in the main story, but you quickly accept that as part of the game design after realising how much interest and variety it adds to the game.
Of the positives, in my opinion, the most remarkable thing is how alive the civilisation feels. The NPCs all seem to react in a very natural manner, in terms of both animations and how they go about doing their tasks. They also appear to retain enough variety to blend in with the specific section of the game they belong to, otherwise you would think this would become an obvious stand out given the large size and variation in the world and countless amount of characters. Of course, it's also completely seamless in terms of loading times, for textures etc., while traveling in the world, so it clearly must be making good use of available resources.
I feel I can easily get lost in the game world, and that doesn't happen very often.
I like to travel prepared.
