I love it, it took me a while to really get into it but it was well worth it.

My best suggestion would be to ignore the main story and follow side quests, that's the real meat of the game.

Exploration is a mixed bag, if you are expecting Skyrim where you can get lost going in any direction you are going to be disappointed. The planets are mostly empty but incredibly well made from a space simulation standpoint, I spent a while just traveling the solar system and taking pictures of cool places I found.