Pretty much, yeah. The first two are doable, but the thrid onwards can be quite tricky if you don't know how to minmax the system. And even then, it took me a few tries before I grasped how to even get past the first loan, and you can get screwed pretty badly with bad quest RNG.
On that note, in the latest Version Harlots don't come with prostitution unlocked xDD
I'm able to pay off the loan without doing any quest what so ever, upgrade for more fishing and you make enough money to pay all the loan.
That is after upgrade other resources and get NPC's on them.
Before I even start the mayor's quest I have born in game 4 daughters along with the NPC's you get for joining one of the guilds and this is my 6 combat crew.
Well that is how I row with this game.
Upgrade and harvest.
Buy one NPC once you have the opening for another worker and keep doing that and you will see millions in under 1 year of game play.
In under 1.5 years I have just under 4 million.
At this time of play I wait till I have 80k food then go sell everything including wood and will be well over 4 million in less than 2 weeks from now.
With how I have it now I gain 2k food every day and at the start of the game with everyone doing food I get between 4-6k food a day and it is easy to pay off the loan on time with no problems.
Now you can wast time going doing quest and things other than harvesting but you will have a harder time getting the money you need.
You can work on minor quest from the board that don't take you away form your house with ease as long as you have what you need.
I use MC to go to different places to get what I need to upgrade with while the NPC's stay home harvesting food to sell.