Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland
Developer(s)	Victor Interactive Software
Publisher(s)	JP: Victor Interactive Software NA: Natsume
Producer(s)	Yasuhiro Wada
Series	Story of Seasons
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	July 5, 2001 PlayStation 2 JP: July 5, 2001 NA: November 22, 2001 PlayStation Network NA: November 1, 2011
Genre(s)	Life simulation, role-playing
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 their 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.

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 score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	76/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
AllGame
EGM	8/10
Famitsu	31/40
Game Informer	7.5/10
GamePro
GameSpot	8.1/10
GameSpy	75%
IGN	8.8/10
Next Generation
OPM (US)

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Eric Bratcher of Next Generation called it "A wonderfully charismatic, unique title that every gamer should play, though your mileage will vary with your patience." In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 31 out of 40.

External links

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland at the Open Directory Project

• Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland at MobyGames