This minor version contains a small but important change, making the forest areas much smaller so that exploration can hopefully be more interesting and you actually have a choice to stay away from them when possible (or at least not be there all the time!)
Remember traveling through the forest will make you lose track after some time (making minimap and compass stop working) and you also move at a much slower pace (making fatigue and food consumption happen much quicker)! OTOH it makes it possible to ambush your enemies or find interesting animal species.