But it manages the first part much better than the second.

It's gotten a lot better but good lord the UI is crap, especially on a console.

It's more fun in creative mode because you don't have to deal with all the fetching.

All that said, it seems a lot more accessible than Elite almost because the flying and combat are so lousy. There's nothing finicky about it, you jump in and hit the go button.

I've spent a good dozen hours playing Next over the past few weeks and I couldn't even tell you why, really, just that I enjoy it now and I didn't use to. Being able to buy plans helped, I guess, because now it's less rando than before and it feels like less of a desperate slog to chance across that next procedural thingy you need.