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A Farming simulation for everyone!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 125 / 137
Date: August 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 29 / 32
Date: November 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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?!?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: April 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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!

The absolute best game!!! Moooooved in the right direction!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 24
Date: February 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game certainly mooooved in the right direction since the last Playstation release of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, which also would score a 4.5 star rating from me. The following is what is different from previous installments:

1. No sheep
2. 4 crops
3. can't get married or have babies
4. the theme is changed into interaction involvment, rather than
a farming theme
5. less characters
6. BETTER GRAPHICS
7. Better spelling and grammer
8. Neat endings
9. Part-time work
10. New places to explore!!!!

This is a game, whether hard core, or casual, all gamers should BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD JOB NATSUME!!!!!!

It had great potential....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: December 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Being a big fan of the Harvest Moon series, I was looking forward to an updated version for my Playstation 2. I figured it would have a more elaborate story line with even more interaction with the characters in the game (which to me was always the best part of the game). I was happy at first that you have a smaller barn and a smaller field (because sometimes milking and feeding 20 animals in Back to Nature could become very tedious). The problem is that there really isn't all that much to do in the game. You have to establish good relationships with other characters to win the game but it really isn't much of a challenge. There are 9 different endings to the game but as long as you read the instruction book, it really isn't very tricky to get any of them. All you really have to do is "butter up" the right people and the ending is yours but you'll end up with a lot of time on your hands waiting for those people to show up at your farm. You get to start over each time you get an ending and keep all of your improvements (except for your sickle for some odd reason) and animals but then there is really no challenge at all. I stopped farming all together by the second time through because I had so much money, there wasn't much of a point. All you have to do each time is to make friends with everyone again and be careful that you don't talk to the wrong people because you might accidentally trigger a different ending than you want (and you'll have to watch the cinemas each time you trigger them which can be pretty dull). I did like that your dog can help you herd your cattle in and that you can ride your horse all over the village but there were a lot of things that could have made this a great game. I really was disappointed that you couldn't date and get married which was one of the best parts of other Harvest Moon games. I also missed the festivals and other special events like they had in Back to Nature. There were also only four crops to choose from and cooking is very limited. It just seems this game is really short and very repetitive. I really would have liked to see more interesting endings and more interaction with the townspeople. If you are looking for a Harvest Moon game, I would suggest trying Back to Nature (for Playstation 1) instead of this game.

Greatest Game of all time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Of all the 7 harvest moon games I own, 3 gameboy, playstation, n64, snes, and playstation 2, this is the best one although ps comes close. The graphics are great and there's a lot more exploring. You can get more involved with other characters besides girls. You can receive items from other people in the game and there are 9 endings to the game. It is a lot easier to farm too, you only get 4 seeds the whole time so it's easier to keep track of them all. You can work part-time so making money is simple. There are so many more shops too. There is even more of a challenge getting a dog too. You don't just start off with everything, you have to earn things so it's closer to real life. This is the BEST game i have ever played. I highly recommend it!

Totaly Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best games I ever played. My only complaint is you can't get married (girlfriends allowed), no festivals ,n
limited crops. The good things are 9 endings, great graphics, nice sound, n farming is easier. It is also harder to get a horse n a dog. N I like the part about being able to cook n eat what you cooked. You also get to ride your horse in town n train
your dog. When you start the field is already cleaned up. The characters have their own personalities which are great. The controls also need some getting used to. Although I still think Back to Nature is better I'm a big fan of the Harvest Moon series. This is kinda disapointing but to me its a totaly great game so its definitely worth buying but be warned you might not like it as much as I do.

<3 :-P

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ok. 1. The guy is hot!
This game is cool. You can't get married, but you can have a girl friend.(Katie <3, Gwen, Dia, Gina.)
You can't have sheep, but you have to catch your dog. You have a choice between a sheperd mix and some mix. And you can ride your horse around town. You have to feed them EVERYDAY. There are only 3 crops, you CAN sell flowers, and there are no festivals. There are 9 different endings and the people move in real time. There are tons of cinamas and you get a flute to train your dog to herd cows, sit stay and all that stuff. Your horse grows to love you and gets faster. You can sell most of the stuff you make in your kitchen and you dont have to provide wood for it! Overall, GREAT GAME!

One of the Best PS2 Games (besides Final Fantasy X) o_O

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

THis game is the best!!! If you like animals, people, the sims, rpgs, anything! This game has it all...anyways, doesn't Hero (the farm boy) look a lot happier (and cuter ^_^) in this game than in Harvest Moon 64? Anyways, there are 20 new characters, and 9 endings. 9 ENDINGS!!! If you're not sure whether to buy or rent, buy. YOu cannot possibly enjoy the game when you only have a limited time to play it! Thanks~

Wonderful Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: February 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's true- They've definately steered HM into a new direction with this game- no festivals- no sheep- no marriage. But it's still great, wonderfully involving, and less tedious (no cutting wood! yippie!). In the game there is a whole new cast of characters, which means more people to get to know. Some of the new characters are very likable, and have comlex personalitys, from Dia's slightly unstable snobbishness to Louis's klutzy inventions. And Lyla's love for romance, and Gwen's tomboyishness and love for animals. There are 9 solutions to the game- each with wonderful cinemas. And of course the most exciting thing- the wonderful new high-color graphics and everyone moves in real time. There's tons of items to forage, recipes, you can choose from six horses, choose from two dogs. The sound effects and music are wonderful, and a big improvement. Also they've taken the raising of cattle and crops to a new level- and they've made it much more realistic. you must earn the trust of your pets by brushing them daily. and the crops will wither if not watered,or they can be blown away easily by natural disasters. so you must use careful planning. the entire farm looks much better, and much more like a real farm. I wasn't sure if i was going to love this game- or even like it. And though it's a dissapointment some of the best features were left out (i.e. marriage- i really think it was a mistake to leave this one out- it's one of the features that made the past games so unique.) i can still say it was worth my money, and provided hours of gameplay! :)

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