The feeling that Island Sanctuary is missing: nurturing rather than exploiting

[DPZ2]

TL;DR I went into Island Sanctuary with no expectations of what it should be, but it feels wrong, and this other game feels like it had the same basic idea and did it right.

The "same basic idea" comes from titles such as Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing and Minecraft, to name a few of the more popular games belonging to the 'farming sim' category of RPGs. I'm happy that you enjoyed Summer in Mara.

The problem is that the Island Sanctuary wasn't designed to be a farming sim game. It has elements of a farming sim, sure, but it's more of a mini-game that focuses on gathering and has some aspects of crafting and playing the Market Board without having to compete against other players. It was never meant to be a stand-alone game such as those listed above.

It holds some players interest and is "meh" for others. And, depending on the player in question, either of those are perfectly valid opinions.

Those who find it "meh" have plenty of other things to do without ever touching the Island, although I will admit that those jean cutoffs you get for completing level 10 are nice for glamour.

They got to let people catch up or move at their own pace.

I blame this attitude on Fear of Missing Out. There are a huge number of players who haven't even reached level 90 yet. The mini-game was intended to be content post level 90. There is no need to speed through the Island Sanctuary content (or even do the content at all) unless you really want the glamour items, minions and mounts you can get at level 10 and beyond.