I went down the rabbit hole a couple months back. I spent a couple hours looking at old memes, I still don't get it. Like it's a not great comic but... I don't care?
I've been using Pocket Casts for years. It's pretty solid. Honestly can't remember if I paid for it or not, but I don't see ads and I don't have the recurring membership option.
It's perfectly optimized. I'm getting a rock solid 30fps. /s
Seriously though, I think it's fine. Especially indoors and in space, it performs well and looks incredible. New Atlantis is kinda ugly and janky though.
Even on systems with significant memory, a slow drive will create lag in RC. Moreover, RC is doing this while also having very high graphical fidelity overall, including ray tracing, which is quite memory intensive. It's not possible without Direct storage and reasonably fast SSDs.
Look at Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. They have completely seamless transitions between entire dimensions. They use Direct Storage, which is a Microsoft API. It's not a good look when a Sony studio is able to achieve seamless transitions on a Windows game but a Microsoft game can't.
To me Mass Effect 1-3 felt more cohesive in space, because it was always clear how much you could do, whereas in SF it looks exactly like you're in NMS, but you can't do NMS things.
It's not game breaking or ruining though. Just know going in that it isn't No Mans Sky.
They specifically said there were going to be loading screens and no user driven landings. I agree with not preordering games, but I also think you need to actually look at what the dev is saying before you set your expectations.
I went down the rabbit hole a couple months back. I spent a couple hours looking at old memes, I still don't get it. Like it's a not great comic but... I don't care?