Have they stated that somewhere?
It sort of looked like a hunter game, which made me rather concerned.
Have you played Xenoblade? People saying it looks like a hunter game always leave me behind confused. The trailers look exactly like Xenoblade -- even the combat mechanics seem to be the same.
In any case, defeating wild bosses already was a huge draw of Xenoblade. I wouldn't mind if they went a little more in that direction as long as they keep what Xenoblade made great -- huge and interesting areas to explore with lots of wild monsters roaming around them.
And judging by the trailers this still seems to be the case. Small, isolated areas a la Monster Hunter are nowhere to be seen.