Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland
Developer(s)	Victor Interactive Software
Publisher(s)	Natsume
Series	Story of Seasons
Platforms	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	July 5, 2001 PlayStation 2 PlayStation Network
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

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. Although it may seem at first that you are able to marry and have a child (i.e. The many bachelorettes in the game), however, this game does not contain that feature, possibly because you only play the game for a total time of one year, making it one of the three games in which marriage to anyone is impossible.

As said before, the goal of the game is finding a way to save the village from turning into a resort. There are 9 possible endings depending on the people you befriend and the scenes that trigger. For most of the endings, the character is involved in a quest of some sort (digging out a treasure, looking for magical ingredients, etc.). After getting an ending, you get the option of restarting the game, but keeping your money and animals, so that you can continue to care for your farm, going for a different ending. Each time you get a new ending, it gets saved in the Ending List, and you get the profiles of the villagers involved in that ending.

Animals

As in other Harvest Moon games, the player can also 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 parts of recipes and can be used for cooking as well as for gifts or for profit.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 76% 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 OPM (US)

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.

Promotion

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

External links

• Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland at DMOZ
• Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland at MobyGames