Huff: You certainly don't 'need' to uncover all the map in each area, but I found it necessary more than not to just uncover quest objectives that can be tucked away in unlikely parts of the map.
The maps for each area are not that big and uncovering them didn't take very much time at all. Some of them (forest areas) have different branching paths and you cant wander off from them into the trees etc anyway
Thanks! +1
When I first started playing, because your character moves relatively slow, I thought "Shit it's gonna take me all day just to get to the next town!" but you're right, there is a lot of branching and other stuff used as filler that makes the actual walking areas not so daunting.
Thanks again.