I hit a Borderlands 3-shaped roadblock right as I hit Winter year 2, but I'm finally back to the beach map. I do like how it encouraged me to change tactics. Some things I discovered:
Despite always taking Forager, I never realized how easy it is to craft and plant spring/fall/summer/winter forage seeds. I did a bunch of outdoor farming in Winter 1, which is apparently possible, and all the yields were iridium because they count as forage for the perk (I think I got it midway through the winter - it levels crazy fast if you plant a ton of forage crops). One of the forages each season can be placed in the seed processor, or you can just smoosh-craft all the season's crops in proportion to get a bigger set of seasonal seeds. Convenient 7-day growth cycle, too. They're not even that bad in the greenhouse until starfruit and ancient fruit!
I went heavy into hogs this time and it really pays off, again with the Forager perk which counts for truffles. No yield during the winter obviously, but over 1250 per truffle is great even without making oil. This was kinda new to me because I never bothered much with large pastures, but the lack of automatic watering encouraged me to try. It's easier than I expected, and I'm going to try to launch into Year 3 with 2 large barns and over half the map as pasture. I think, based on year 1, that the grass will regrow fast enough based on my placements.
Okay that's just me being an obsessive minmaxer, now for the important stuff.
Haley and Alex deserve each other
Alex is rude and
wastes shoes, but he's got understandable trauma and worries. I don't know what Haley's excuse is yet, but I'm okay not dating either of them.
Shane makes me sad and I don't think it's healthy for me to date him. The game should REALLY punish me for giving him his favorite gift after the heart events. I try to check up on him. (oh crap, is he out of work now? Maybe I should stalk him one day, hopefully he hangs out in the community center...)
Sebastian is best guy and I almost wanted to marry him again, but I didn't want to repeat content so I avoided him out of awkwardness. Sorta tragic.
I accidentally fell for Leah, even more than in previous runs. I found myself really wanting her career to succeed, and I run into her a lot even outside the saloon just doing my forest things. I like to think we're really good friends, but there's some tension there.
I see Harvey like once a month and at festivals. The guy's nice, we just never cross paths? I never saw the point of the clinic really. Sorta-same with Maru, she's really cool and all but I'd rather leave them to nerd out together.
So then, Elliot. ...Ah jeez, I can't believe I married Elliot. He's *nice*, I like his glamorous hair and speech, he's a writer - all really cool! Plus he lives on a beach so that's just *fate*, right? He's just, you know, really nice.
...Fuck, I was always going to get a divorce, wasn't I? What a cruel story I'm telling here.
Oh and Abigail's nice I guess. I hope she actually becomes an adventuress some day? She can come off as a little young for me, but I'm in my 30's so that's on me. Like, Maru and Sebastian live with their parents too, but it's a small town and they both have serious jobs.
I love that Emily is dateable now (since one of the first patches I think). The whole crystal/chakra deal is pretty sweet. Not my type romantically, but definitely a fun friend.
I guess that's everyone... I still think Marney is beautiful, but she's already explicitly in love <3 I want an option to date Clint, honestly, the poor doofus >.>
Aromantic shadow housemate is also a cool path I want to check out sometime, Krobus is great and he's so easy to please.
But... yeah, I might need to visit the witch's shrines and undo some damage soon. (No children involved, don't worry. I was gonna, but something kept stopping me at the prompt.)