I found the opposite, it had very little grinding required. It does assume that you’ll do most of the side quests, but i found that by doing all quests available at my level or under that i was always overleveled for the bosses. It does warn you that its intended to be difficult though, with an option to turn down the difficulty. I also found the side quests to be genuinely interesting and diverse, and not repetitive or grindy at all. Its a long game for sure, but i never spent any time just grinding. I ran past most monsters once i had cleared each area for the first time and they respawned.