what i loved most about the first game is founding and ruling my own kingdom/barony. the description of this game mentions nothing about that and seems to focus more on the character being an adventuring party rather than a lord.

I didn't play the beta, but as far as I know, this time there is no kingdom management. Instead, you control armies in a metagame that is comparable to HoMM.

There are some elements from it. You do build new outposts, fortify and conquest castles/huge citadels and rule them. Build things there, make deals and have diplomacy things trying to "rule the Crusade". But this is not a Kingmaker, your quest is not to create a kingdom of your own. So in some ways (like armies) this is "more" of kingdom management game but in some other aspects this is less.