I strongly disagree. Starfield has both from the start, the instant teleport and the walk. I enjoy both at appropriate times. Of course Starfield has actual gameplay value in the interiors, mods added more, but that isn't all easily repeatable in ED. A gear engineering station is a no-brainer. A functional infirmary only make sense when an injury/illness system is also in place. A functional brig requires a system of non-lethal takedowns and restrainment.
The value of ship interiors for me comes when you can board
other people’s ships, especially NPCs. Whether it’s kidnapping, rescue, sabotage, repair, theft, or retrieval… it’s the gameplay that matters. Ship interiors would simply be a new environment for that to happen in.
The bonus is that you also get access to your own ship interiors. Whether my own ship’s interior has gameplay value or not will determine whether I want to engage in it or not. Starfield demonstrated that aptly: as soon as I could build an appropriate base, I ditched as many unnecessary interior spaces as I could.
It’s also the difference in how I engage with Supercruise and the docking bay. Supercruise has tremendous gameplay value, and is relatively short, and is my favorite part of the game. The docking bay has no gameplay value at all, and dashing across it is grating on me,
despite how brief it is. Of course, part of what gets on my nerves is that there is so many things I can think of that
could happen in a docking bay that would make traversing it worthwhile.
But they don’t. Thus the docking bay becomes an unnecessary time sink between my ship and human shaped kiosks, rather than a gateway to adventures on a station or planetary port. Which makes me sad.