Thanks for playing my game!
I made the manual in the begining to explain some game mechanics, since the tutorial was not in the game and most things aren't explained properly yet. It definitely needs more work and there is quite a few things missing, since I didn't update it in like a year. As for the gamepad, that is mostly my self imposed limitation. I want the game to be playable on as little buttons as possible, but it should work on pretty much any controler.
Second name is locked for story reasons. In the future, you will get hints and if you input specific first name, the surname changes too, which will change events and other stuff. I'm aware that people don't like predefined names, so I use it mostly in menus. Almost all dialogue uses the first name only.
Pathways not being that clear is a known problem. I experimented with glowing icons showing at exits, but it didn't look good, so instead I added roads / brighter dirt spots to most level transitions. Some are left obscure for a reason, like the one above the farm house and some locations have transition spots around the entire side, like beach. I will experiment with making them clearer though. Might try adding specific sign posts and limiting dead space with trees or rocks like you said.
I both love and hate that engine, but the limitations make it a lot of fun working around them. Plus people still use it today and there is two decades worth of custom scripts and solutions to any problem.
Stations you can interact with should glow when you get near them. Most other props don't do anything right now, either because they are not useful or because they are not developed properly yet. For example, there is a wood resource, but no planks or firewood, so wood chopping block does nothing.
As for stealing, I was thinking about it but I never figured out how to make it work. Stealing in games like fallout or elder scrolls just doesn't work for me, since you either fail and reload the game because the penalties for getting caught are too high, or you just steal everything and nobody cares. I was thinking of doing a system similiar to runescape, where you need certain skill level to even atempt pickpocketing, but that has its own problems. I'm planning to add a morality system that will allow you to mug people outside of towns if you get it low enough though so I will probably add some kind of system for more petty crimes too. Can't go from being nice to people to mugging merchants in a span of a week.
Money is easy to get after a while. In the begining, you should focus on getting enough stored food and keeping your mood high. You can get food in the inn and they also sell alcohol, which raises your mood. Money can be easily made by sticking to one job for a while. You get paid more if the job giver likes you enough.
The game is pretty long depending on what you want to do. If you want to finish the basics, you just have to survive for one year and then talk to the npc that will end the game and give you some unlockable outfit / item. That sshould take you about an hour if you rush. Normal playthrough should take around 2-5 hours. The game doesn't end after the first year and you can stay as long as you want and finish things you missed, so you can do pretty much anything in one playthrough. That should take around 7 hours if you know what you are doing. And then there are the unlockable outfits and items. I can't estimate how long it would take you to get them all. Probably something around 50 hours. I would apreciate if you could play through the game, but I don't actualy expect anybody to try and unlock all the items. Going through the entirety of the firs year should be enough for anyone to make a very clear picture about the rest of the game.
Again, thanks for playing the game. I will consider your feedback and hope you play more in the future.