I think it’s fairly distinct from the ARPG/Diablo genre, though. There is no grinding per se, as gaining levels just refines what you’re doing and helps you focus it, rather than granting you new and amazing things. You can finish the main quest at a wide span of levels, too, and there is no “end game” content you have to grind to. There is a much more randomized radiant AI at work, much more varied than, say, the simple randomization of monster affixes that you get in Diablo. The gameworld is also, IMO, more detailed and requires more user involvement than most ARPGs. Crafting is actually more necessary in a game like Diablo than here; most of the crafting is purely optional in F4, while you pretty much have to farm mats in games like Diablo.
Most importantly, the game has a very different feel than an ARPG like Diablo or Marvel Heroes or Grim Dawn (all great games). Your character is very distinct, and hugely customizable. Your game experience can be very much a kill/loot/repeat cycle, or it can be something else. You can’t avoid combat, but you can minimize it. You can do stealth, you can game the conversation systems, you can do all sorts of odd emergent things that simply aren’t possible in most tightly constrained ARPGs.
Finally, I’m not sure the phenomenon you point out is that new, really. Hell, for all of the focus on story, and world building, and characters, what drove me in an Ultima game was…gaining power, levels, and stuff, so I could kill bigger things to gain more power, levels, and stuff. That’s what drove PnP D&D, for many of us. Sure, there were the people (some of my friends even now are like this, and we’re, well, old) who played combat-less role-playing, or role-playing where it was all about crafting an interactive story, but most of us wanted the loot. +5 Vorpal Sword, baby!
