This game gets a lot of flack for being inconvenient, but its really equal to if not better when compared to the original. Your character moves a lot faster, Skells streamline traversal (especially water traversal) significantly, the Return to Skell function makes grinding much easier, the map is far better (I can actually look at the map and move around at the same time, and the map tells you where treasure, tyrants, affinity missions, heart to hearts, etc are).
Quests are handled far better too. Basic quests can all be found in one place, and you can set quests as 'primary quests' which tells you what your objectives are on screen. It also shows you the location of the target NPC, enemy, and occasionally the collectible needed for the quest. Most quests can be found in NLA so you aren't scouring all the different villages (Frontier Village in particular was a huge pain). Shops are significantly streamlined, with all the arms manufacturers using one terminal, and the other shops being located in Armory Alley.
Then you've got the inventory. In the original you hit your limit very quickly and had to warp to a shop to sell stuff, otherwise you'd just have to leave chests all over the place. Now you can hold 99 of every collectible and they auto-sell. When you hit your limit for materials you can sell them straight from your menu.