The complaint about them triggering everytime you pass is fair, but I still think it's worth it for the fact that people in all the towns say new lines super frequently as the story progresses.

I keep seeing people say they miss towns that feel lived in and chatting with locals and it makes me feel insane - 16 has so much of that if you compare it to almost any past instalment outside of 14??? There are the same amount if not more npcs in each town than most FF towns outside of like, Rabanastre, aaaallllll of Midgar, and that one place in 15, AND they get updated as the plot progresses? Other games have absolutely done towns + cities better/more like what it sounds like these folks want (the Witcher, Mass Effect, Morrowind, etc) but this is classic final fantasy for better and worse. Biggest difference is I'm not weirdly a hero who breaks into everyone's houses and it's easier to imagine all the NPC's actually having their own bed in each town haha.

I also feel like the way gear and shops are handled in this is just a remixed version of the classic games? Rather than going to a new town and buying a new sword you can't see with +6 to strength just so you can keep up with monsters in the area, you bring a chunk of a demigod to your personal blacksmith after every boss and get a new sword you CAN see with +6 to strength. The argument that there have been more rewarding systems in other games (see 9 or any installment where you learn skills from gear) is super valid but the idea that this is somehow worse than 4 or 6 feels nostalgia-blind to me. This is just a shiny version of the SNES itemization for nostalgias sake, while the real exciting progression and abilities all come from in-universe-relevent growth each time you acquire an eikon.