As with all things, sandbox and freeroams are as good as the designers implementing them. I tend to prefer not to have them, but in Pale Carnations they are used to add a depth of character to the club itself, and allow you to interact with more people then you would otherwise get a chance to. In BaDIK it would be nice to have less, but they serve a function in letting you dictate what happens during set pieces, and interact with social media.
In lesser games, which I will not mention, they often are used as ways to repeat scenes to add filler to games, or to make timing puzzles, again, to artificially extend the length of a game. So, while in general I prefer a kinetic novel, it's all about the design in the end.