Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland Blue Bird Any% "Wed/Sat Strats"
Brief Summary: We want to befriend Luis, the Tool Shop owner. For this run, we will need to collect roughly 16 gifts and visit him 16 times for the run to work. After the 2rd gift, on a Saturday, wait for him near the lake and enter 18 seconds after he enters the lake area. Do this again after 10 gifts. Then, one a Saturday, wait for him at the lake again (being sure to wait 18 seconds after he enters the lake, and do this twice, skipping two cutscenes. When he is ready, he will visit you farm and teach you to play the flute. After the flute minigame, sleep 6 times, then go to the lake.
Why this strat? This strat has us only visiting Luis on Saturdays and Wednesdays. This is because Saturdays and Wednesdays gift 5 affection points (from my count this rounding method works fine for this run). The other days, he only adds 4 points. The other useful aspect is that on Wednesdays, he is in the forest, which is closer to the farm and doesn't require you to wait in front of his shop until 10am. On saturdays, he is in front of the grocer, which is closer than the shop and once again requires no waiting.
Important: The first day gifting, be sure to have the gift in your hand when you first talk to him. It allows for 7 affection to be gained instead of the usual 5.
When gifting, be sure to let the NPC stop moving before talking to them. That goes for the player too. If you're in a running/walking animation while gifting, it can lower the affection points gained.
Split 1: Luis's Gift The game starts on a Tuesday. We don't like Tuesdays. So sleep the first day.
If it isn't raining, go to the forest and collect the berries and herbs that are spawned near the beginning of the area. Then, talk to Luis with a gift in your hand. Then, talk to him without a gift.
Next, sleep until Saturday. On Saturday, go to the back of the grocer. Talk to him, gift him. Good to go.
Proceed to the forest. Try to gather everything gift worthy (berries, herbs, NOT FLOWERS)
Do this for the lake area and the goddess spring area. Then wait in front of the carpenter's shop until Luis comes through (it can feel like forever).
Once Luis exits the map into the Lake map, wait 18 seconds before entering the lake map. The cutscene will trigger. (10-12 affection points)
I personally split once the cutscene skip ends and the music starts again.
Split 2: Birdfeed/Lyla Go home and sleep until the next gift day (usually Wednesday, but the rain can mess it up) Continue to gift Luis either in the forest or the Grocer until you've gifted him 10 times. Remembering, if it rains on a gift day, just sleep until the next one. It's important to keep track in your head or on paper.
FUN FACT: The First day of Fall is Luis's Birthday! It will award extra points (not sure how many) if you find yourself in the game that long.
After 10 gifts, on a Saturday, go and wait in front of the Carpenter's Shop again. Wait for Luis to go to the Lake. Wait 18 seconds after he leaves the map to enter the Lake map. Skip both cutscenes. You have to leave and re-enter the Lake map to get both.
I split when the second cutscene ends and the music starts again.
Split 3: Playing the Blues Now, we need to give Luis 4 more gifts. Continue our pattern up until this point. This time, however, when he has enough points, he will come to your house. When he does, he will take you to the lake and play music with you on his/your flute.
The minigame isn't too hard. Might need some practice if you aren't used to musical games, I recommend using an emulator and make a save state before the minigame and reload it a few times to practice. I'll make a video explaining that process and add a link later.
Once the minigame is over, if successful, very cheerful music with begin to play. Skip the cutscene, and split.
Split 4: Homeland Saved Sleep 6 times. On the 7th day, go to the Lake map. The end-game cutscene will trigger. I split when the fade-to-black happens.
Split 5: End Credits Due to rules on Speedruns.com and the Harvest Moon Speedrunning community, to keep all runs inline with the "All Stories" category, the times for runs must include to after credits cutscene. Because of this, you'll get to sit and wait for the credits to go by before seeing a final cutscene. It's cute. Once that cutscene fades to black, you can split and the run is over.
TLDR: S1: 2 gifts. wed/sat. sat: gather. wait for luis. 18 seconds. lake cutscene. s2: 10 gifts. wed/sat. sat: gather (if needed). wait for luis. 18 seconds. lake cutscene. exit then re-enter. lake cutscene. s3: 4 gifts. wed/sat. Luis comes to me. Minigame. s4: sleep 6 days. day 7: lake. s5: watch credits and cutscene.
