But yeah, not wrong in any way about all these random features being added which, while some are cool.. ultimately aren't generally needed at all, and have nothing to do with anything, and.. they just haven't really got a clue what they're doing, in my opinion.

The only bit that made NMS better for me was when they added the custom rules mode. Can turn off most of the annoying game design elements they stuck in, like having to constantly refill like 8 different bars in an eternal grind

"Why do I need any of those" is the correct assesment of NMS... You can already get everywhere with your basic ship and omnitool. Maybe you need a few upgrades, but regardless all the other mechanics are immensely shallow and unrewarding

An old online game that did this. It was very popular. But to enlarge the offering they added a whole horse-riding/boat travelling angle that did nothing for central mechanics. So they broke the central mechanic to force people to use it, which just degraded the game for everyone

They did make one step in the right direction - the capital ships. But then they completely wasted that potential by making it just an ordinary base, but portable. You don't gather anything from having it in the system or even orbiting the planet.