I feel there a time and a place if done right. If a game lacks any kind of fast travel what so ever and you are just forced in these endless long drawn out walking cycles-- yuck. If a game lacks enough content to last 2 hours before a platform like steam would not auto refund a return and they are simply using this game mechanic to slow down the player then that just shameful and they need go out of business.

If it adds in a meaningful way to the players overall experience for most then I think its fine. Not everyone going enjoy certainty types of points in games. I’m not much into lore or hearing long over drawn backstories. Yet it sill has a place and can at the very least help build up to something. If however there no payoff for that time spent than it was not thought out properly.

I myself am not a big fan of them either. I think most don’t carry them out very well. They just seem like “filler” content than anything else. If a game lacks the budget to properly have these then they should not try to include them. They can find another way to add a build up of suspense or what ever else they are trying to create for the user.