I'd rather a smaller, manageable map to a large map.
Aside from too much walking and much less polish for a large map, I feel far less in tune with a large map if that makes sense.
A good example is comparing the old NFS games to the new ones; post-Carbon EA tried to push for bigger maps in their open-world titles, and all they did was make it too hard to remember the corners and the sights. I remember all of Underground 2 and Most Wanted's maps and I was able to really put myself in those spaces, but I don't remember jack squat about Undercover or Hot Pursuit and so I always felt like I was playing a racing game.
A reason why I love Assassin's Creed: Syndicate over Assassin's Creed III is because of the tighter map size; there's parkour spaces all over map; you're almost never (the exception being one or two missions on separate maps and the park in Westminster) running across flat plains. There's also very recognisable buildings I can use as waypoints, and the collectibles are nowhere near as spread out and hard to find. In ACIII, it's a pain to walk from new mission to new mission (which is why they did a bad thing and added too many fast travel points to compensate, and on top of that forgot to compensate in the Frontier, which is my most hated map of all time), whereas in ACS I'm always close to where I need to be, so it's not a problem to have a bit of fun and run my way there.
Even in Fallout; I'd rather a smaller map with more recognisable spaces, additional content and interactions instead of more places to forgetin walk over-encumbered to. I always have and always will prefer the Vaults to the world above.
Poll