My issue is the amount of half-assed game mechanics and the skill tree.
Most of the ship parts are useless or gaudy. You can't mix and match weapons even of the same type. Structure pieces only look good in very specific configurations. Most of the Habs don't actually do anything. Make one minor change and now my cargo hold is now full of a bunch of junk. I Can't have a doctor in my infirmary? The giant 3x3 cargo hall doesn't actually have storage space so I still have to throw on cargo pieces too? How do I put people in the brig? The fact that there's passengers and two different crew things? Why can't I save my half-built ship layout and come back to it later?
Persuasion challenges are an absolute joke. "Hey, I need you to do this thing." "Why would I do that thing?" "Because I really want you to." "But I'll get in trouble." "Hey, I know you want to help me out." "Okay fine, I'll give you access."
And the skill tree... holy fuck. Locking away basic ass features in the last tier like more crew? But at the same time I can have access to that, 27 power reactor by level 6? I don't understand why they didn't tier those out differently, say put the "have 4 crew members" in tier 1 and "have 8 crew members in tier 3". Why do I have to get to the last tier just to get even 1 more crew member?
Then there's the smaller mechanics that don't make much sense either. Have contraband? Just land next to a city instead of in it and you're fine! The powers? Cool concept, but the combat ones are useless compared to the weapons. We don't even get leveled versions like skyrim shouts?
Andreja is the most morally ambiguous companion I've found, and she still makes comments on everything. God forbid you bring anyone on a mission for ryujin especially.
All said, I've still got nearly a hundred hours in and have no intention of putting it down any time soon.
