First time playing Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town – beginner questions from a Back to Nature kid

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting here, so please be gentle as I tend to my turnips on my first season 😅

I played the original Back to Nature when I was a kid and back then I honestly didn’t understand a lot of the mechanics, and the time system felt fast as hell (not to mention the big memory consumption on the memory card), but the nostalgia really stuck with me. Recently, I decided I wanted to finally “finish” that experience properly, so I picked up Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town.

I’d love to hear different opinions and playstyles, so I wanted to ask a few questions:
What do you usually focus on during the first month (Spring Year 1):

> Farm setup and earning money?
> Events and festivals (White Day, Horse Race, Cooking Festival, etc.)?
> Relationship building / villagers?
> Or do you just take it slow and explore?

Any beginner tips you wish you knew early on?

> Usual bread n butter routines in early games
> Are there any real advantage gameplay-wise to choosing male vs female, or is it mostly preference?

Also for later parts in the game:

> Does marriage significantly affect gameplay? And purely from a gameplay perspective (not looks or personality), how would you rank marriage candidates?
If you have a tier list based on benefits or convenience, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks in advance! I’m hoping to have a healthy discussion and learn from different playstyles and opinions. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts 🙏