Savage Worlds - I like the variety of character options, but the rules themselves seem to be a bit clunky and over-complicated for my tastes (ironic, since SW is billed as Fast! Furious! Fun!, and it really does seem less complex than a lot of other games I have looked at / played)
I'm pretty much in the OP's boat. [...] SW was almost "it" for us as it has great, simple character development and options. You can easily create just about anything you want and have strong mechanical reinforcement for it. But, there is some real wonkyness in play that killed it for us.
Okay, here's my recommendation: Create characters in Savage Worlds, then play them in Fudge. It's almost a perfect match, honestly. Skill dice become Fudge rankings, with d4 being Mediocre, d6 being Fair, etc. Bennies become Fudge Points. SW bonuses and penalties are cut in half. Armor and weapons require a little more effort to convert, but not a lot.
Personally I prefer combat resolution to be as simple as possible so I run
Fudge Lite, but Savage Worlds maps a little better to the slightly crunchier
original Fudge rules.