The positives of free roams:
- It allows you to select the content you wish to see first without having to go through others characters arcs
- Feels more realistic with how the time advances and how you can take a shower or fulfill daily needs while seeking other tasks..
- It's the best system for the use of in game economy and facilitates shopping and other money based actions
The negatives of Free roams:
- Depending on the dev, it can get tedious to do the daily tasks and work to grind the in game currency
- There is no continuity so it can get confusing sometimes and it may take some time to find where you need to go next
- Some people hate looking for things to unlock hidden galleries or quest items and free roams do just that
My personal opinion; I prefer games that have minimal free roaming unless there is tons of content to explore then I don't mind it at all, basically it's like open world games; if the world is empty it's pointless to make it open but if it's full of stuff to do then be my guest and free up the gameplay.