The hatred for this game boggles my mind. I chalk it up to petty people who are jealous of not being able to create anything like this themselves.
I purchased my PS4 with this game in mind a year ago. I didn't watch all the videos, read all the things the game was to have. I was just sold on the idea that I could walk around a planet, get in a ship, fly around the planet, fly off the planet and visit other planets. That's all I wanted. And I got what I wanted.
As a child I remember seeing the ad for the Space Shuttle game for the Atari 2600 and imagining all sorts of wonderful things. The Space Shuttle game was garbage but the dream remained. The game Captain Blood was close but nothing ever gave me what I imagined as a child until now. This is the game I dreamed about as a child.
However, the game is not for everyone.
There are two kinds of people in this world, those who as a children can imagine a toothpaste box as a spaceship and those that cannot. I had many toothpaste box spaceships as a child and if you did too, then maybe this game is for you.
I've had friends return the game or regret their purchase. To be blunt, they lack imagination and I think that's what has prevented them from enjoying the game.
If you like a game holding your hand and telling you do this or that to get to this point, like in Batman or Uncharted, then this game isn't for you. Sure you can try to get to centre of the universe but you don't have to. You can do whatever the heck your little heart desires. You want just to explore things, do it, you want to mine and make money, do it, you want to be a space pirate, do it. You want to walk across a planet's surface for six hours, by God, you can do that too.
If you are a completionist and like doing everything this game has to offer, because your mind is broken or you actually like that sort of thing, stay away from this game. You will not be able to finish or collect everything and it will drive you crazier than you already are. You can try but if you think you'll "finish" the game, you're in for a world of hurt.
But if you like exploring, if you've always wanted to have your own spaceship and just tool around the stars, this is a game for you.
So far, I've visited two planets and have spent about 20 hours on them, just wondering around, checking things out. If the game was just what I've done so far, I would not be disappointed. But I know there's more, there's other planets to visits, other alien races to encounter and I can do it at my own pace.
As for crashes, I've had three so far and that's pre-patch v1.04. One when the game first started (not a promising start I'll give you that) and two before the game started after that. I have to wonder if the people with the crashes are either liars or are doing something they shouldn't like maybe re-starting everything something doesn't go their way.
What cracks me up is the common troll rant that this game has no multiplayer. So what? I don't want multiplayer. I don't want to kill other people or steal their stuff. It's like saying LEGO is a crappy toy because it doesn't have internet support. You want to interact with other people - leave your home. I want to explore space in private. It's bad enough I'm going to run into people naming planets "Poo World", I don't need to interact any more than that with those kinds of people.
If you're curious about the game, watch some YouTube videos, there's a lot out there. Just don't be put off by all the people hating the game. I have been playing video games since the 1970s and this game ranks right up there with the greatest in my opinion. Just as the game Hunter on the Amiga set the stage for games like GTA, this game will set the stage for future space exploration games and just because it's not of GTV V quality right now, that doesn't mean you should ignore it if you're curious.