I miss save the homeland😭 this was my first harvest moon game and I absolutely loved it. I really wish they would port it to the switch.

I am *so* excited to see someone talk about this game! It's def a departure from mainline HM games, and not necessarily the best one at that, but it was (oddly) my first so it has a special place in my heart. Thank you for giving it a fair shake when so many don't. Your point about character depth is so true and I think it's partially bc Heart Events normally aren't about character arcs but are just sporadic moments, whereas following these events gives characters a consistent narrative to follow and develop through...well, as much as any characters in HM do lol they at least felt full of personality! Plus, I completely agree with the gripes you had with it. That sun is unacceptable. P.S. That Thanksgiving description was so on-point and the music when you trashed the field textures KILLED me 😂 you've got a lot of seriously humorous moments in here ("this is how love works!" also is noteworthy) without feeling like you're...trying, if that makes sense? It's natural and

My one and only issue with this game is the non upgradable watering can😂.but with that being said in its simplicity it's a damn masterpeice.

No sheep? How baaad! See what I did there hoodie? XP

This was my first Harvest Moon game and it launched me into the whole series. I totally wouldn't call this a complete harvest moon game. But, it's nostalgic for me and got me to try MFOMT (probably my fave of the entire series that I've played)

This is one of the first games I played so it has a special place for me. The music hits hard

I love Save the Homeland. It is kinda like a simplified version of Harvest Moon where it doesn't give you too much to be overwhelmed with and the "1 Year" limit to get an ending does steam line the game down some to make it a bit of a quicker playthrough than others. That being said, I love the "New Game +" feature the game has where you get to keep all your purchases/upgrades you unlocked in the previous playthrough on to the next one for the next ending. The only thing that really seems to reset is your friendship levels with all the residents and you have to befriend all of them over again each playthrough you do. Side note, there is an item to help you move your animals. You have to have a dog and then get the flute from the Scientist guy (I can't remember his name). Once you have got a certain friendliness up with your dog, you can play little tunes on the flute to give him commands. Play them enough, and he learns them. There is one you can play that I think is just Left, Right, Left, Right on the D-Pad while playing and the dog will go run into your fields and herd all your cows back inside. Granted, the opposite doesn't seem to work when getting all the cows out of the barn, so you still have to manually push all your cows outside...but at least time doesn't pass when you are inside. The Kitchen is actually pretty handy to have. I can't really recall if you needed any of the recipes you make for any of the endings that were food centered, but I do know you can boost friendships with other residents by cooking them dishes they really like. This makes them more friendly to you more quickly and therefore makes getting the other endings a little more easily with each "playthrough".

I understand why one would compare Save the Homeland to A Wonderful Life & Friends of Mineral Town, but I find that’s not a valid comparison. Both are later releases, have the benefit of reflecting on past titles for improvement, and had much longer development time than StH which was rushed. Considering the circumstances and that it’s an early PS2 title, StH is much better than some may give it credit for.

If you get the "flute" (really it's a recorder) & you can train your dog to herd your animals in!

I honestly don't know why but even though there is a remake on the PSP with more features I still prefer this version lol.

Hero of the leaf valley was a huge disappointment for me because of the redesign, too many loading screens, lack of facial expressions(thats my main issue, save the homeland had tons of em), some jokes are missing like Tim geting angry at you for you to interrupt his running. The areas are too small. Dialogues have less text now. Map navigation is confuse. The dogs are less cartoonish and now they bark all the f*** time with that high piched bark. Its a good effort but thanks to psp limitations it lost the heart of what made save the Homeland so special. Really wished a copy of save the Homeland with marriage and better area/map design.

the homeland for this game does have a name actually i saw it in one of the victory ending cut scenes i don't remember the name though it was like spring vally or something o:

Thought I hallucinated save the homeland

I agree with the Phantom Brave music in this video!

I feel because it is simple, it's a great game to start in the farming sim genre, I tend to get overwhelmed honestly because I'm a perfectionist so this was a great game for me

Everything is so dark and nothing is explained Deleted it after 5 minutes, even though I was excited for like 10 years

im sad you never made another harvest moon review around thanksgiving. :(

Good Review. I haven't played them all but this was the worst harvest moon game I have played. It feel unfinished and the world very empty.

nov 28 2021 +1 sub

It’s the best ever harvest moon game. Don’t fuckin @ me, you FOOLS. The music, the story, the sense of not knowing anything... maybe it didn’t age well. But holy shit it was godlike back then.