TL,DR: I'm fucking hooked!

For starters, the tutorials are a bit intimidating. It's hard enough figuring out the right control scheme for a control pad (I decided on advanced, works well.)

Getting the crap beat out of me by the tutorial fights was pretty depressing but I pushed through and was able to finish them all off. Was my ship in pieces by then? Yes, but I still finished it.

But the best experience I had was when I got my first mission. Deliver 4 scrap to the Kini system.

I planned out the route on my own.

I enabled frame shift and warp jumped to the system.

I nearly face planted into a damn star.

Then as I made my approach to the dock, I just took everything in. The vast space that made up the map settled in. How big the galaxy felt. The stars flying by. Players whizzing past at light speed off to do god knows what. An extraterrestrial beehive buzzing all around me. The music sealed everything together and I was in a state of nirvana.

For as much as I fear the black void out there, flying through space like I was some new age trucker felt so good.

I made it to the station and finished the mission. 4000 credits. Probably pennies to some vets, but I was proud of earning that cash.

I can't wait to launch off again to the great unknown. Seeing the starry night as a blur across my windshield was some of the most fun I had in a video game in a while.

I always felt that MMOs gave that sense of enormity in the wrong way. I felt like my actions were futile since everyone else is doing the exact same thing.

I can't exactly say what Elite does better for me. All I know is that when I'm flying towards a far off galaxy with a cargo bay full of loot and the stars blazing past me, it feels right.