I agree with a lot of that, but it still feels like a fluff piece. Some of those design decisions are not just based on HDD limitations, but processing ones. Also, Meridian in Zero Dawn doesn't have that many NPCs walking around and NPC count would be a CPU thing anyway if everything I remember from Ass Creed Unity is true..
lol, and you will still get elevators and bridges because they exist for continuity- they will just be shorter or you can run across instead of walk (ie, load faster).
It will be nice not to have those forced walk and talk sessions like Gears had on 360.