It seems to me that there are too many 'gamers' who prefer to see negatives to complain about (we have plenty of regular posters here who do so, incessantly!) rather than enjoy the game, which has always struck me as strange.
Yeah. Consider how many things ED does quite awesomely.
As an example, consider that the galaxy has 400 billion systems (if I have understood correctly, it's literally 400 billion systems, not just 400 billion stars), and in the galaxy map you can zoom into any of them. That's 400 billion little sphere that you can zoom into any one of them, individually, to see its details (name, star type, etc). Maybe the vast majority of the coordinates and star types are algorithmically generated, but it's still amazing that you there are literally 400 billion of them, and you can zoom into any one of them in real-time.
Or consider how seamlessly you can fly from a distant orbit to the surface of a planet and land there, as one contiguous movement, and this even though the game is like 10 years old. (Yes, there is texture popping sometimes, something that in a 2023 game wouldn't be necessary, but it's still quite impressive.) Heck, you can be in a very high orbit, and start approaching the planet, get into a slide, and then fly downwards until you are directly facing a plant on the ground, all in one contiguous smooth motion. This kind of seamless continuity adds a lot of immersion to the game. It really makes it feel like a planet is really there, rather than it being some kind of separate dimension to which you teleport through a loading screen. (Again, while this might not seem like such a huge deal in 2023, by 2014 standards it was quite impressive, I would say.)
And, of course, there's the really immersive first-person-perspective flying mechanics, and a myriad of other things.
And let's not forget the absolutely amazing soundscape of the game. Without it, it would be half the game it is.