A game I used to play way back was "Space Rogue" by Origin (Paul Neurath). The travel and combat was space/flight sim, while the plot aspect was advanced via overhead scrolling (so two separate "modes" of the game). I haven't played Elite, but in Space Rogue, you also do trading to get money for upgrades, but the plot will gradually advance as you understand more of the game. It's also fairly open-ended in that it doesn't force you to advance at a particular pace, although eventually the plot will be somewhat linear. There's not a lot of worlds to explore though if you're into that sort of thing.
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