I don't quite agree with this. In the example of crafting fishbait, there are two sides to it one is collecting the Manilla clams and the other is crafting them

I don't quite agree with this. In the example of crafting fishbait, there are two sides to it one is collecting the Manilla clams and the other is crafting them into fishbait. Both are done one-by-one. Arguably collecting the clams is much much more time consuming, and it's always been something I'm fine with. It's engaging running around digging the claims up. Crafting them literally is just me spamming A for minutes at the time. It makes me watch a YouTube video instead of engaging with the game. When you need multiples to even have fishbait have a point, then I feel it detracts from the game. I literally can't think of an experience (min max or no) that is enhanced by the crafting tedium. It would be different if crafting involved some care and attention like say Fantasy Life. My problem isn't the time wasting it's the fact that the way the time is wasted is not engaging at all. When I think about that minutes of crafting, I don't even want to spend the hour collecting clams and the hour fishing a certain spot for that rare fish I'm missing.