The settings API [0] is really bad. That said, you can still use parts of it without the `add_settings_field` and `add_settings_section` bits.
Or you can build reasonably powerful abstractions over top of it that let you get a lot of stuff done quickly.
The power of the settings API is users can go in and remove fields. This plugin I installed has a field I don't want to show to my client? Let's just remove it. And we can do that without editing the plugins files directly and keep it safe for upgrading.
> * Better templating options are being promoted.
Highly debatable. Ever made an admin page? There's a laughable number of callbacks required just for a single input.