Foolmonkey

Well you help make the point right there! If it doesn't add much to leveling, then dont put it in the game. Keep it simple! Exploring is great, and I will be all over the maps to see artwork, find quests, and hidden items. Throwing miniscule xp my way for walking down path #2 feels like preschool.

Yes, there should be a skill system. I agree with Zuk that modern RPG's (and most modern games in general) let the player customize and slop together whatever they want to do with their characters, play through on easy mode, and finish the game with a smile on their face without any sort of unqiueness to the characters or playthrough. The player should have to think about how to balance their party. A big part of an RPG is taking time (or lots and lots of time) to set up your character attributes/skills/talents/equipment. To Obsidian's credit it is very hard to create a new skill/talent/class system that is balanced and fun. I always like to see a game lean more towards, "I put a point into the wrong spot, time to restart my character" rather than "just click something and try it out because it doesn't matter." I just hope they can get everything right by release time.

Any extras you find should be a reward in itself (items, extra quest, esthetically pleasing scenery) Exploration xp is a horrible idea. It encourages us to run around to every environment we can just to level our character but have absolutely no reason to be there. A bestiary is neat, but a detailed pokedex that gives xp in this game feels bad. After I fill my pokedex with Lion info, I'll just stealth around every lion I see from now on because they don't give me anything? KISS, like the Torment list. Simple pictures, clever paragraph you read, and never go back to it again. Giving no killing xp is also a horrible idea. Why not keep the IE guidelines and let the classic feel of the game shine through!? Kill something, grab some xp. You could gradually reduce the xp amount per creature so grinding would be less of an issue.