Rebirth: why all the minigame/side quest hate?

Just wanted to gush a little bit about Rebirth. Still working my way through it since it released on PC. As teenagers we used to fantasize what a remake could look like, but what Nomura has pulled off far exceeds what we ever envisioned. Such a nostalgic, incredible experience...

There is something that's a little confusing to me, though. I've noticed in a lot of Steam reviews that there are complaints about the amount of side quests and "world filler." Guess I'm just curious as to why people are so against it?

I love having things to do in the open environments before moving on to more story content. It actually reminds me of the original. I'd spend quite a bit of time as a kid battling in the regions before proceeding into the next town. I can't imagine wishing for a remake for the last 20 years, to then complain about having too much to do in it once it finally happens.