There is politics from scene one? You are literally fighting against a giant corporation which is taking over the town.

Maybe politics, but it isn’t necessarily fighting “against”. You can play the Jojo path, get different perks, and the shopkeep doesn’t become unemployed.

Plus the intro of the game is the player moving to the farm to escape a soul-crushing corporate job, only to find that same sort of culture taking root in their pastoral sanctuary.

I love pretty much every system of progression it has, but I do respect that the game doesn’t really force you to engage with the parts that you don’t enjoy.

But anyone who sides with Joja is a monster.

I guess I never noticed that. I actually never paid attention to the story or characters at all. Just spent hundreds of hours growing increasingly large quantities and qualities of produce.