give the event sheet a chance, its not really blocky, and although it reminds you of game maker's shitty event editor, you'll find its much more develloped. you can do alot more than you think once you get the hang of it, heck i can't think of one complex thing that ive though about that i couldnt do using the event editor. before saying construct isnt the tool for you, give it a good try.
game maker is absolutley horrible from when i tryed it, i actually prefer klik and play to it. ive never really scripted, but from what ive read and seen, its alot more mork to set up all those brackets and variables, than it is to simply create a new event, and create an action. dont think of the event editor as a limiting feature it really isnt, it'll save you alot of time, you just have to learn to use it properly.
oh yah, the sprite editing and importing sucks in GM, its sooo slow.