My biggest issues still remain the inventory/exchange/storage system, the lack of vendors with any significant money (but understandable), and a few minor clipping/graphical bugs that cause for some hilarious moments sometimes. The storage is actually pretty cool, but it's a pain to maintain/edit. I haven't tried running cargo links across star systems yet, but even the local storage linking can be a pain if you want to edit it (stating this as I'm re-doing everything .... again ....) Another issue is your companion doesn't seem to really be much more than an additional weapon - the dialog is cheesy and repetitious, especially if you married for the XP bonus. lol. But honestly, that's probably the least of my complaints. I've also run into the "problem" of everything you want to do or advance requires investing in skills which involve further challenges. I'm not complaining, just saying that may be something others don't like since everywhere I look people seem to want to finish the game as quickly as possible. The one thing I've noticed is that this system has me working on one branch of the skills tree when I discover something else I want to do, so I focus on that branch, then I decide I like ship building, so I have to focus on something else. I've since completely dumped the main quest in favor of building my ship up, upgrading my weapons, and creating mining outposts. Half the time, everything leads to a ton of other things to do, so I forget what the hell I was doing in the first place. To me, this is a good thing. It's not like on No Man's Sky, where after a few days of playing, you pretty much are "done" with the game and it just becomes a grind. I agree on the ship combat. I don't know if my ship just sucks since I'm mostly using it for cargo-hauling, but if I encounter multiple level 20-27's and I'm level 27, I'm probably in trouble right now (or I was based on the last encounter). I didn't think that was difficult when I was level 15 and fighting level 15's. I think it's because I don't fully understand the ship customization and my weapons are overpowering my systems or aren't appropriate for my setup... or something. I'll have to look into that later. This is nothing like ground combat where I've taken out level 50+ enemies while I was in my 20's and just took out a "boss" level 40 by myself. In those situations, I probably wouldn't stand a chance if I were in a room by myself Speaking of shipbuilding, the interface (again), at least on the PC, kind of sucks. Sometimes I have to exit and come back because the ship won't rotate for me to place something correctly. It's only happened a couple of times, and usually works fine, but still. My biggest surprise is how fun the combat is, and I'm not a first person shooter kind of player. That's been some of the most fun. I just wish "normal" mode were slightly more difficult. As it stands, I think, like in most games, "normal" is more like an "easy" mode. So far, on a 1-10 scale, I'd probably give the game a 7.5-8. I'm not much of a "mod" guy, but I'm curious to see what modders do with this game and what they can improve on.
I think I might be hitting a wall soon. I've finished the main story. Been doing the faction quests now instead of jumping to NG+. I am around level 50 and my build is not completely done, but I am so OP that if doesn't really matter. I farmed for strong weapons early on, a Hard Target that had around 460 base damage and a Beowulf that was around 170. All enemies are pretty much one shot kills. I still loot everything but there's nothing that upgrades my current gear. My armor could use upgrades but when I can snipe everything from stealth, I'm not engaging in many gunfights to begin with where more armor is needed. Can't sell any loot either because vendors don't have enough credits lol. Maybe the OP feeling will change in NG+ if I make it there. But after 50 hrs in, I feel fairly content with my playthrough. No interest in building ships or outposts.
I did a major rebuild on a ship and it is really ugly but super functional. I can finally do fairly well against enemy space craft also. My reactor is C but the rest of the components are either B or A. Eventually, I'll be trying to design a more streamlined less crazy looking design. I look forward to it. I just need a few more skill upgrades, first. I think I have close to enough money but will keep gathering more just to be safe. Funny story. One ship asked for extra ship parts over a hail for repairs. I didn't have any so declined. As I was prepping for my next jump, I saw them blow up. I guess it wasn't a scam. The next part is a very mild spoiler and not really part of any quest but just a random encounter. I'll spoiler Tag anyway, just in case. Spoiler The funniest one was the ship that contacted me about my ship warranty and needing me to RENEW. One of the options was to attack immediately, but I didn't.
I never had problems with the fighting in space unless I went to systems that were way higher than my level up my character. I'm was something like level 37 or so and went to a level 65 or 70 to fight some pirates or wildlife on land. I landed and took them out fairly easily, but then forgot I was in a level 65 system. I accepted a quick quest on that planet that told me to go into orbit and take care of some pirates, so I was thinking "we'll do this quickly, earn some cheap credits, get some XP, etc." I got out there and a level 58 ship and a couple of others that melted me. I don't even know what level the other two was. And this despite the fact even though I'm basically a U-Haul truck in space (almost 5000 cargo space), I have almost Class C everything. Even with 4 lasers, missle launcher, and suppressor, I couldn't stand up to whatever was hitting me. I still say ground combat is wimpy but space combat is where it should be. I should have no business easily beating a level 58 at level 37. In ground combat, a level 58 is usually nothing. Spoiler These random encounters will happen again, and unfortunately you'll run into the same people repeatedly, but initially they're funny. You'll also run into "grandma"'s ship where she offers you all kinds of food she left on the table and goes back to sleep. The insurance one is probably my favorite one, though. There's also the guy that tells you a Uranus joke... huhuhuh.
Also, one thing I've really come to find is broken are the cargo links (inter-system) for the outpost. They seem to break for no reason, and can't be fixed despite deleting and re-installing. Or maybe I'm missing something. It's been my greatest disappointment in the game so far. Still having fun, though, but I need to start thinking about going back to the main quest which I've abandoned for quite a while now.
The game has been patched enough that I can continue my gameplay. I understand the grief the game gets, but I am still enjoying it. I look forward to new DLC
