I had a customer 25+ years ago who had this around their pool.

This is just my opinion, but I thought it looked tacky and cheap.
The job looked uniform, but just not for me.

From the practical stand point, it was very hard on the knees when kneeling on the patio. Although I did not ever walk on it barefoot, I suspect it was rough on the feet. Especially after a full day in the water when your soles are soft and you make contact with the rough deck.

Concrete is the least expensive of all patios. You could paint the concrete with a specific deck coating. You would however have to wait at least 28 days for the concrete to fully cure prior to applying any coating. You may have to re-coat every 2-3 years also. The coatings are no-skid and look nice with various color choices.
Although I'm not a big fan, stamped concrete is an alternative.

Think of the future if you ever plan to sell your home with a 70's patio. Re-sale value is a consideration.

The newer aggregates have smaller pebbles (or at least they are an option). They ARE less slippery than concrete and don't hurt your feet. I suspect kneeling on it would still be bad though!

The exposed aggregates form the '70s were rough and ouchy and often looked bad, plus they were usually black and white...try to see some modern jobs with the little rocks. It's quite nice. It's NOT the stuff you remember and (appropriately) loathe.

It's not necessarily a dated or "low end" finish. And to a lot of us, it looks much less cheesy than concrete pavers. Do those ever look good? (no!)

Thank you both. I try to look at pictures on pinterest, google images, etc. It's just hard to see from photos online. I think I need to see it in person.