Yeah I agree that they over used it. There are some particularly frustrating cases where the game wants you to walk forward to initiate the next conversation, but if you want to double back to check for anything you either a) can't or b) have to walk to an invisible marker before it lets you jog again. In some cases it was really well used, in others I think it was a "trick" to give time for the hi-res textures from the upcoming cutscene a chance to load in.