Yeah, ship fighting is weak and gun fights are even worse. But adventure part is nice. You go there, talk with some people, pick some mission, go elsewhere to play mission, something happens, emergent gameplay. That kind of thing. Kinda like Shenmue. Freelancer was pretty much the same, dogfighting sucks but sense of adventure it offers is what people like about it.
It's like Expanse Online or Firefly Online.