I want a game with a fluctuating economy and where I can hire farmhands to do all the boring jobs.
In Friends of Mineral Town you could get the elves to do all your work for you. Admittedly it's a bit of a pain in the ass to get them to like you and then to get their abilities up to the point where they actually accomplish anything. But once you've done that you never have to work in the fields again if you don't want to.
Perhaps you could spend all your time growing flowers?
Anyway, I have to confess that I don't feel able to defend the game against most of these criticisms because they're true.
All I can say is that I agree with Montoli that it has a really addictive rewards system and I've always felt that the games a certain charm to them that makes the whole experience really fun for me.