Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland
Developer(s)	Victor Interactive Software
Publisher(s)	Natsume
Series	Story of Seasons
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	July 5, 2001 PlayStation 2 JP: July 5, 2001 NA: November 22, 2001[1] PlayStation Network NA: November 1, 2011[1]
Genre(s)	Simulation/role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single player

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland, released in Japan as Bokujō Monogatari 3: Heart ni Hi o Tsukete (牧場物語3 ハートに火をつけて), is a 2001 farm simulation game, part of the popular Story of Seasons series of video games.

Overview

The player takes on the role of a 21-year-old man whose grandfather, Tony, recently died and left him his farm. Upon arriving at the farm, nominally to pick up his grandfather's belongings, the player's character encounters three "Harvest Sprites" and the Harvest Goddess, who ask him to stay on the farm and help them.

The area is slated to be demolished within a year to make way for a resort and amusement park. The goal of the game is to find a way to save the town before the year's end.

Gameplay

The goal of Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland is to find a way to save the village from turning into a resort by the end of the year. There are 9 possible ways to save the village depending on the choices the player makes, such as which villagers the player befriends. For most of the endings, the character is involved in a quest (digging out a treasure, looking for magical ingredients, etc.).

After reaching an ending, the player has the option of restarting the game to try to "save the homeland" again, possibly achieving a different ending. Upon restarting the year the player may keep the money and animals earned. Each time the player finds a new ending, it gets saved in the Endings List, and the player receives the profiles of the villagers involved in that ending.

Like other Harvest Moon games, the player must tend to his or her farm by growing and selling crops and gathering produce from his or her animals. Unlike the other Harvest Moon games, marriage and parenthood are not included as options.

Animals

As in other Harvest Moon games, the player can adopt a dog and a horse. The horse can be used to get around the village faster, while the dog can be trained for useful tasks, such as herding cows into the barn.

The player can also own cows and chickens. Happy chickens and cows have the potential of giving golden eggs and golden milk. Eggs and milk are ingredients in recipes and can be used for cooking as well as for gifts or for profit.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 76%[2] Metacritic 76/100[3] Review scores Publication Score AllGame [4] EGM 8/10[5] Famitsu 31/40[6] Game Informer 7.5/10[7] GamePro [8] GameSpot 8.1/10[9] GameSpy 75%[10] IGN 8.8/10[11] OPM (US) [12]

The game was met with positive reception, as GameRankings and Metacritic both gave the game a score of 76% and 76 out of 100, respectively.^[2][3]

Promotion

The American pre-order bonus was a collectible cow plush that was included in the game when ordered from participating websites.

References

External links

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland at DMOZ

• Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland at MobyGames