yay, i had the same view three months ago as i asked what was up with this design choice, i will just copy/paste there answer here
TeamZorro Quote:
"Once all the areas and starting npcs are in, there are some places where you can go to 4 places from one area, and that will eventually increase. Combine that with being able to meet different npcs around the same time. The screen will become cluttered with options. We're moving away from rnging meeting the guy you want through the events and just talking to them when they are at x location at x time, as people were annoyed with rng trying to meet the guy they want to with the old.
Also it adds a bit more of overtone that the fact the player and their phone are linked."
---quote End
i too, still think this design choice is kind of questionable and working with it is tedious. Also the "the fact the player and their phone are linked"-part leaves are bad taste in my mouth, i mean do they really need to be?
Guess we#ll just have to have faith that it will turn out well in the future.