I think the game is just sort of a chill game. finding cool looking space ships is the biggest thrill for me and I do really like some of the designs. It's basically a game like minecraft where you gotta set your own goals.

No Man's Sky suffers the same thing every other sandbox game suffers - once you've seen all the in-game content, you have to rely on your own imagination to continue.

So what you're looking for a is a patch that adds a game to the game.

its Bastion.

I was hoping for a 3D Starbound where you build massive bases on core worlds and explore the planets for quests and allies, but instead it feels more like a glorified walking simulator in space where your goal is to scrounge together a dictionary for the different alien species.

I had the same experience with NMS. I waited patiently until the game got good, saved up money to buy a PC that could actually run it properly, and then found out that the game is actually quite boring. You just...travel and maybe plop down a small base somewhere.

Progression in procgen games is basically impossible. You'd be plastering laughably small progression on impossibly big area, so you'd either tie the player down to tiny area (then why have procgen) or it will feel empty anyway, spread over vast area.