Overall I like the game. Main stuff people are bitching about doesn't really bug me; I care about as much about Starfield not having NMS copy and pasted into it as I did about Cyberpunk not having GTA copy and pasted into it. I do think they went a bit overboard with the fast travel to the point where travelling massive distances pretty much happens entirely in a menu. You can choose not to do it, I suppose, but I never really like that as an excuse for bad design.
Biggest gripes in no particular order:
1. Inventory. Way too limited, and at the same time too UNlimited... as in, whoever thinks it's a good idea to not only let you pick up every piece of garbage in the universe but also make sure they're all conveniently highlighted just as prominently as everything else of value is a retard. I can deal with weight on my character, for the most part, but ship storage is absurdly low until you start fixing it yourself with modules and skills. Also some other annoyances like containers you place near tradeskill benches don't pull materials out for crafting automatically, making it far more annoying to craft anywhere but your ship or certain other places where it does work.
2. Ammo. Too many types, and at the start of the game at least the prices are insane. I thought buying 6.5 Creedmoor was bad IRL, but even the most price gouge-y gun shop ain't got nothing on Starfield's 6.5mm vendors. At 25 a round you could easily spend 2500-5000 credits just to kill one elite enemy if you use an automatic weapon. Automatics need their damage increased and fire rate decreased, right now they are so terrible that any drop I get that hasn't had a semi-auto conversion done on it (Edit: why is this a mod and not just select fire anyway?) gets vendored immediately.
3. Skills. Way too many, or gaining points is too slow. I don't know what level a completionist-but-no-grinding playthrough would end up at, but I've seen people saying that a streamlined playthrough can easily end up only in the 30's. Some of the challenges required to advance to the final levels of a skill are insane too. I don't like basic weapon and armor modding being stuck in tier 2 either, basically forces you to spend 4 points in science skills that do very little to help you at the beginning of the game. Persuasion seems really bizarre in this too. I rarely fail red checks and I think I've seen a green one succeed once.
4. Lack of an actual map even in the cities. Definitely my #1 from the list of shit everyone else is bitching about.
5. Companions. Same old clunky ass inventory system and unintuitive UI for equipping them with stuff is lame. Also, first companion is a wet blanket that dislikes everything I do after saying she didn't care what I did as long as I didn't get caught.
6. No mouse and keyboard support on Series X is very disappointing. Gamepad is actually fine for just about everything, except the single most important thing -- shooting guns. For that, it's a goddamn abomination. It's basically the same feel as Fallout 4 (before the 60 fps patch), except no VATS to make it all bearable. There's ways to slow time, but nothing convenient enough to rely on. I knew sniper rifles were completely out of the question, but now I'm starting to think planning for ARs was a mistake too and the only thing playable on console will be a shotgun. Thankfully I haven't spent any points in tier 2 of combat yet. There's no respec AFAIK.