I want to get into No Man's Sky but really have no idea how to play it, what to prioritize, what to avoid, etc

@dielan could try just playing creative mode to experiment a bit first.

Honestly, no man's sky lost appeal for me once they started adding a bunch of stuff. I would have been totally fine with the original game, more variety in planets and fauna/flora, and a bit more of a fleshed out story. It's gotten to the point of minecraft for me now, where there is so much stuff that it's overwhelming and not all that meaningful. I just wanted to fly around the universe and find interesting stuff.