the system is interesting. The gameplay is meh, but I don't think it'd be too bad if there was something tied to it.
personally I prefer finding the obelisks as a way to learn languages. I forgot about the cookie cutter, useless NPCs in the stations.
I don't mind the mechanic of the double unlock. I do think a lot of the unlocks themselves are phoned in. Was just ranting about how bad the "install 15 unique ship parts" one is with a friend, like why not something kind of interesting instead of such a grindy one? "Make a ship with only one engine and a top speed of 150" eg.