Honestly that’s a fair point. It’s been a long while since I’ve played Starbound, and even longer since I played it vanilla. Forced is definitely not the word I should have used, but I do remember feeling constantly pushed towards completing the story because I enjoy fighting bosses. I also remember genuinely hating engaging with it any time I did. Nothing like searching for an hour for floran relics only to find a planet with two less than I needed. The game desperately needs a way to track down a specific species’ settlement. It just wasn’t fun in the slightest, and I would have preferred no story over what the game got. Boss fights are fun (even if I think most of Starbound’s are too easy), and it sucks that you’re forced to progress through the exact same lame and repetitive repeat of the story between each boss.

The tutorial dungeon is the worst though. A true pinnacle of terrible sandbox game design. It ain’t short, it’s the exact same dungeon every single time with the same enemies and loot, and it’s strictly required to make any progress whatsoever.