DS4 - Just some food for thought

If they never wouldve made ER but DS4 instead, with the same amount of content, more linear map design, multiple layers of maps, NPCs, Quests and all that would it have been the best game ever made?

The density of content would be crazy, no aimlessly running around empty areas but something to discover at every turn while being massive in content. Just imagine how great it would feel to see an area like mountaintops of giants the entire time, faruum azula flying high above always looming over you, towers piercing the skies inviting you to explore them and those legacy dungeons just chasing one another... It would be a peak Souls experience.

Or am I wrong? Would it be too much at once? Is the desolation you can feel in certain areas what makes the games great? The emptiness just what they intended for the DS trilogy?

I would love to hear all of your opinions