Open world games; Are big worlds really better?

[Farsala]

I have always liked the bigger games more then the smaller ones.

I have spent more time on Fallout 4 then Fallout NV or Skyrim.
Far Cry 4> the rest
DA inquisition> DA2
AC2> AC, AC:BF>3

Etc. etc. etc.
I remember back in PS1 era my favorite games Digimon World, Spyro, Darkstone, FFVIII felt much more open and bigger then most games at the time.