https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Commander
then I stopped to use it being proficient with Linux command line interface.
At some point, I had to start working with AIX, it has something similar but more powerful , SMIY/SMITTY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Interface_Tool
that also has an explain function that permits you to see the command line it is about to use to execute your instructions. That explain functionality has very high educational value and could facilitate the initiation ritual for people already Unix-like initiated. So should be nice to have a similar tool of FreeBSD , if not already present ( if it's present, please tell me in the comments because I would like to evaluate a FreeBSD based laptop ).
My problems with systemd is the bloatware, not init related, that comes with it in modern Linux distributions.
In my perception systemd people doesn't respect the freedom of choice of the users, the right to simply switch off features they find useless, annoying or simply they don't want in their workflow for any reason. I have a personal wiki related to the preparation of the development server or PC I personally use and the large majority of the chapters are related to the systemd features I need or want to remove and often that is a pain. I would like to see the users' right to NOT use given secondary feature respected, giving them the capability to easily remove or disable them without side effects, for example, in the OS installer, to have the power to deselect features, having alternative options like "manual operation" (i.e. DNS, I should be able to disable the option opting for manual configuration using resolv.conf, just as example). Even better, the possibility to have an input configuration file with all your options so that them will be applied automatically during the installation.
IMHO, if all the distributions enforce the systemd way to do anything , we have a monopoly and monopolies are never good.