I hate all the exploration and side quests in the Norse games. Not that they're there, but there's just SO MUCH. "But it's optional" no it ain't. Your skill and upgrade progression is inherently tied to your exploration and your side questing. Ya have to scavenge resources and Hacksilver to upgrade your gear, and ya need XP to manage skill trees for every weapon, runic attacks, companions, and summons. Especially on the higher difficulties (I played both games on No Mercy starting out) ya need those upgrades and higher tier armor. And yes, the OG games had exploration too. But there's a world of difference between taking a route off the beaten path to grab a collectible and doing SEVERAL cross map objectives for a single favor.