Wow Fahln, I have to wonder...... If you play Xsyon, why? You sure paint a grim picture
it was a pretty accurate assessment of the game...from a purely mechanical standpoint.

in general the game is less a game and more a sim...because there is no point.

the terraforming system is really quite cool.
the building system, while tedious, lets you do quite a lot...I don't hate it.
In general the city building side of the game is great.

but that's it. your build your town, you grind your skills, and then...you grind some more skills. and then...yup you guessed it, grind some more skills. Why? so you can grind skills of course

Taking long walks in the virtual mountains and taking in the scenic vistas the game presents really is quite neat...but scenerery and walks in the virtual mountains to 2 shot a deer, a game does not make.

Summary:
If you've got $40 bucks to blow. It's worth your time. you'll get your money's worth out of it from the terraforming side of the game (if you like building stuff). Consider it a donation to the cause...so when you get bored in 2-4 weeks, you can say that you've invested in the future...and that maybe, just maybe, with the help of your 40 bones, the game might get to a point to where we could call it a game and it would be fun (for more than a week or 4)