Product Description

The object of Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland is to successfully save the village from being turned into a resort. Construction begins in a year, so you must find a way to save your homeland before that. Unlike previous Harvest Moon titles, Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland will offer nine unique ways in which to complete your task. Thus offering nine different endings to the game! Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland focuses more att

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4460 in Video Games
• Brand: Natsume, Inc.
• Released on: 2001-11-23
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: PlayStation2

Features

• 20 New characters each with their own unique personalities.
• Explore a 3-Dimensional environment rich in detail.
• 9 Unique endings to the game.
• More interaction with your animals, such as training your dog and racing your horse.
• Enjoy hours or non-linear game play.

Amazon.com Product Description
Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland takes the Harvest Moon series in a new direction by offering a deeper and more robust role-playing experience than past titles. It might be best described as a life simulation. The object is to successfully save the village from turning into a resort. Construction begins in a year, so you must find a way to rescue your homeland within that time frame. Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland will offer nine unique ways in which to complete your task, and focuses more attention on relationships over profit. Befriending the people in town is the key to successfully completing your task. This is the first Harvest Moon title to be in a true 3-D environment. It looks much more realistic without losing the cute animation style for which the series is known.

There are 20 new characters--each with his or her own unique personality--richly detailed 3-D environments, and enhanced interaction with animals, including dog training and horse racing. Other compelling details include the ability to collect and cook recipes, real-time character movement, and the capacity to obtain helpful objects by doing part-time jobs.

Customer Reviews

A Farming simulation for everyone!
This is the first Harvest Moon title to be in a true 3D environment, and it could either make the game a lot cooler, or ruin the fun of it.In the past, Harvest Moon has been more of a farming simulation with a little bit of role playing added in. Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland is a deeper and more robust role-playing experience than any other Harvest Moon game. It might be best described as a 'Life Simulation'.

The object of Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland is to successfully save the village from being turned into a resort. Construction begins in a year, so you have to find a way to save your home land before that. Unlike previous Harvest Moon titles, their are nine unique ways in which to complete your task. Thus offering nine different endings to the game! Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland focuses more attention on relationships than that of making money. Befriending the people in town is the key to successfully completing your task. There are over 100 different heartwarming events, each one leading to the next. This is the first Harvest Moon title to be in a true 3-D environment. This game is much more realistic, yet it will not lose the cute animation aspect that all Harvest Moon titles are known for.

Story line(8/10):

You must save your village from being turned into a resort. With the Construction starting in a year, you have to find a way to save the Homeland before that!(That's why the game title is Harvest Moon:Save the Homeland) You must now go around making friends with people of the town and must restore the farm to being prosperous within a year. sound hard? well even if it does you can do it! It is still unknown if you can marry in the game though.

Features of the game:

their are 20 new characters each with their own unique personalities!You can now explore a 3-Dimensional environment rich in detail!Their are 9 unique endings to the game!Their can be more interaction with your animals, such as training your dog and racing your horse!Now enjoy hours of non-linear game play!You can collect and cook various recipes!The characters move in real-time!Earn various key items during part-time jobs!You now have new tools which include a hoe, a sickle, a watering can, a brush, a milker, a fishing rod and a flute.Your rucksack can now hold 24 crops.Your Stamina meter shows how much more work you can take. A red face means you are fully energized, yellow means your a little tired but okay, blue means you are exhausted and you need to take a rest.You can have a girlfriend in the game and marriage may be a possibility.

Your house and other buildings:

Your house: In your first room you have a bed, table, 2 windows, Bookshelf, TV, Trash Can, Mini-Cabinet, Bed, Cabinet and you have a door which will led you to the second room of your house. When you first enter the second room you will see on the top right hand corner your refrigerator where you can store crops. To your immediate left sink, pot, frying pan and microwave. And to the left of that is a table where you can eat. Their are also two doors which one leads to your Bedroom and i am not sure what the other leads to.

Outside your house: you have a fishpond, a semi-fenced in grass area for your cows and horse, Dog bowl for your dog, area for you to grow your crops,Chicken coop, and the Cow barn and if you head to the left when you exit your house you will go into a area where you have a bunch of passages of ways to go.

Chicken coop:It is the first building to your left.Inside it you can house 6 chickens at a time. A egg incubator and a water holder to refill your water can.you must feed your chickens every day.

Cow and Horse:you can house 5 cows and 1 horse at a time. You have a area for a pregnant cow and a thing for fodder.You do not need to feed you horse every day just brush it and ride it every day. Cows you must feed and brush every day.

You do not have to do anything for fish. but play with your dog every day.

Music(7/10):

Really depends on your music taste. It can be cheery at times and sad at times.

Graphics(10/10)

Excellent! Of all the past Harvest Moon games this game's graphics are clearly the best! But it hasn't lost it's RPG feel.

To Buy or rent the game:

Buy the game! You do not have enough days to enjoy the game by just renting it.But it is totally up to you.This is a great addition to anyones PS2 collection whether your a Harvest Moon fan or not.

Little known fact:

You may know that the Japanese title for this game is Bokujou Monogatari 3: Heart ni Hi o Tsukete, but ever wonder what it means in English? It means Farm Story 3: Set My Heart on Fire

Recommend:

If you would like to try out a Harvest Moon game before this game is released in America and Canada you should try ALL OF THEM!

Release date:

Japan: July 5 2001(I'm playing this version) USA: October 20 2001(definitely getting it!)

I hope you liked my review!Have fun with the game!

Very Different Harvest Moon
This is a very different game, if you compare it to all the other Harvest Moons. In this game, it focuses on relationships with the town, and less on making money. It is a very interesting change. Here is some things about it:

1. Only four crops (Potato, Tomato, Corn, Breadfruit)
2. Marraige not certain. (I'm not sure whether you can get married or not, I'm not far enough, and rumors are going either way.)
3. 9 Endings, each after 1 year. When you succesfully get an ending, you will start a new year, keeping your house enlargements and all animals. (Total of 9 years at least to get all the endings.)
4. 6 Chickens Only
5. 5 Cows Only
6. 1 Horse Only
7. NO SHEEP!!! (WHAT IS WRONG WITH NATSUME?!?!)
8. Huge field W/O planting it!!!
9. Only 8 (4 plants by 2 plants) planting areas.
10. Bag of seeds puts seeds on one square, seeds much cheaper.
11. New five girls.
12. Less characters (only 20)
13. Better graphics.
14. Part-time work.
15. Per minute days (not by ten minutes like in HM:BTN)
16. Different yet still fun.

In All, I still give this Harvest Moon game 5 Stars.
~Chibi-Tux~

Farming is FUN?!?
Who would've thought playing a game where you raise chickens, plant crops and milk cows could be so much fun? I certainly had my doubts.

My fiance bought this game for me, but wound up playing it when I (a major RPG fan) decided that the game couldn't possibly be interesting. The strange thing is--it is!

After watching Harvest Moon: StH for several hours (she hasn't let me play yet), I've got to say that this is one addictive game!

Graphics: 7/10 Not the greatest graphics, but it has the typical Japanese anime-style graphics with cute dogs and characters with large heads and feet. My only complaint is that you can't really tell mature cows (who give M milk) from young cows (who give S milk), but it's not a big thing.

Sound: 8/10 Your chickens cluck (and make an awful racket!) and your cows moo, but aside from that, the music is upbeat and changes with the seasons. I particularly liked how the cicadas chirped during the summer month--a nice touch and it reminded me of when I was living in Japan during the summer.

Gameplay: 6/10 Okay, the only serious downfall to this game is the camera angles and the difficulty to properly position your character to do certain actions. When you're watering your crops, 10 out of 10 times, you will miss watering at least one of your crops a day. The problem with this? Your character tires while doing chores, so for each missed watering, you'll have to do it again, which means your character will tire faster. Plus, 10 seconds=10 game minutes, so you'll lose precious time, too. And then, there's the difficulty herding your cows into and out of your barn. Going out isn't a problem, as time stands still when you're indoors, but when it's 5:00 in the afternoon, your cows are outside grazing and it's going to rain the next day, it gets really frustrating when it takes five game hours to herd in 3 cows.

Replay value/fun: 10/10 The fun in this is making things work and the monotony of things is actually a good thing. The tedium of doing your chores and trying to get some time in to go fishing, sell your food stuffs or talk to people is all part of the game and it's even better when you can actually afford to buy a kitchen and make your own food! In terms of replay, this game is just like real life, in that the game never has to end. You can pick off from where you left off when the game (year) ends and you can try working for a different ending (there are nine in all).

I love this game for so many reasons and I recommend it for RPG lovers (who don't mind doing some repetitive chores) and kids, as it teaches them the value of hard work, friendship and responsibility. And the best part of it all is, this is a fun game that doesn't need violence to keep the player satisfied!