Starfield

I feel similarly. One of the biggest things for me is how, although much does feel like a Bethesda game, there were some times it felt like they'd just take stuff out of other games and dumped it in. The lack of vehicles annoyed me too, and don't get me started on the basically non existent local map

My recommendation is to mod away the bullet sponge. It made the combat much better for me.

The npc has a lot of life in standard but they then get 20 hp more for every level.

Look at your weapons and you realize how much they absorb just from leveling compared to your weapons.

I hardly run out of ammo, but I'm also the kind of person who levels up carrying capacity first and becomes a loot goblin.

And yes, ammo has 0 weight but more weight cap means more time for me to search every corner of every room

I could forgive bethesda games because I used to be able to look at them as "greater than the sum of its parts"

Fallout 4 with mods just barely got away with it.

Starfield has too many issues for me.

The biggest one, your second issue of loading screens, I don't think mods can fix. There just will never be a seamless overworld because of the spaceship mechanic.

What's a good space combat game?

X-Wing was one of my all-time favourite games, it was late niceties and got followed to by tie fighter then X-Wing Vs tie fighter but the original was best. It was really simple combat, lasers or rockets and you had to balance power between shields and lasers. I don't know what made it so great, there was a pace to it the just felt so good - lining up and blowing a tie fighter then another and coming down on the third, doing a hard breaking turn and driving your speed to get behind it and land a shot in its rear before it can outpace your maximum acceleration.

X com interceptor was a great game too, I remember it being deeply flawed but incredibly easy to get hooked into playing for hours. Combat was a bit more like wing commander which was a touch more strategic and less frantic.

Any good, ideally cheap, space combat games anyone can suggest?

Loading screens are really the biggest negative for me. And navigating the menus takes some time.

I really enjoyed Fallout 4. And it feels pretty close to that for me with MUCH better gunplay. I can feel this being a time sink for me once i can actually get my teeth sunk in to it.

The game mechanics and worldbuilding are underwhelming for what they were touting it as. Its going to take a few years to be good.

but question is cyberpunk actually good now?

I've only watched someone play it, but it does seem like it is super superficial, like a puddle that looks deep but is only a few inches