I'd say a combination of the DEGREE in which stats and equipment matter in damage and defense, and how the game deals with consequences with healing and Wakestones, that you get a game where skill is less important than the grind. Much like Skyrim.
I consider this thing to be on a spectrum. If you have a game that combines action with stat progression, there's a balance between the two. Some games lean more in one direction than the other. I'd say on one spectrum you have...a character action game with light stat progression, most likely just HP (Metal Gear Rising for instance). That game is heavily skill-based. Then you might have a game with a bit more stat growth, but where to truly excel you're expected to master the controls, mechanics, and have impressive reflexes (Bloodborne...with the Souls titles leaning a bit more with stat progression). Then you have a game where you can have a mastery in the game's controls and mechanics, but what will truly matter is if your stats and equipment are up to par. This is where Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma firmly land. DD is hurt further, as mentioned above, by how it deals out consequences. Death is negated with easily farmable wakestones, and you can pause and FULLY heal from items that are cheap and easy to farm.
It's not a skill based game, now matter how cool you think it is to jump on big monsters. It's Skyrim with more responsive controls, and snappier animations. Now is that bad in itself? I don't think so. For instance, I enjoyed Skyrim. But Skyrim had more going for it than just combat. And DD doesn't have shit.