I really liked Starfield and I played it for about 250 hours, multiple new game plus runs and all. It is not a bad game, I liked the characters and the story and especially the world with its near future NASA-punk setting. And yes, such a setting means that most of space is boring and that travel between planets (or even stars) in real time would take ages, very boring ages with nothing other then darkness around them. So the gravity jump mechanic and the focus on events around planets was only logical.

The big problem that Starfield had was that so many people had the idea or the fantasy that Starfield would be a game that it a) never was and that b) Bethesda never said that it would be.

I play, and I mod and create mods for, games with versions of the creation engine for over 20 years now, I began with Morrowind back then, and I have a very good idea and understanding of how the engine works and where its powers and limitations are, maybe that’s why the picture that I had from the game was very close to what the game delivered (loading screens and all) and why I was able to had (and still have) so much fun with the game. There was no huge hype cliff based on wishes and imagination that I could fall down from.