It really is not difficult to play this game without ever spending money on gems. I've finished both worlds without purchasing gems and got lots of gems from mining them. You don't need to buy lots of gifts to keep your citizens happy. You can get maybe one fountain, for which you should have enough free gems, but after that you either build some trees or use beautify after you've unlocked the card. It's really all about your strategy.

It's such a shame that mobile gaming and freemium is accepted based on the argument people play for less time so dont mind waiting for timers. I paid £400 for my Ipad i want to play games on it for hours at a time the same as I do on PC without havign to pay tens of pounds for each few hours of playing.