My playtime: 18:01:55 (game finished excluding extra contents)

Intro
Passage of The Hollow Moon is a difficult turn-based RPG Maker game where you control Venus, a member of the Oortas, a group of mercenaries under the king's command.

Graphics
The game has a lot of well-done, themed maps. The use of several small maps in crowded areas is cleverly done to indicate the huge area. Other themed areas also look different from each other, except for some that feature the same element. It wasn't hard to travel between places, especially since most of the areas are simple and straightforward. However, some areas are too narrow, forcing you to wait for an NPC to pass through the area. I also noticed one building that is a complete copy of another building.

Story
The story was introduced in a way to make you interested in the game, with the introduction of the mercenary group called the Oortas and what was happening to the world. The writing is done well apart from some noticeable typos in the dialogues. It wasn't hard to understand the story either with the easy-to-understand words and compact dialogues. However, I couldn't seem to resonate with most characters. Most cutscenes, especially the emotional ones, feel empty in response.

The Game
Exploration
One thing that I noticed is how the game encourages you to use items in battle. Healing skill is almost non-existent at the beginning of the game that you have to rely on healing crystals to heal your party. The crystal becomes a safe haven before you have to travel to other areas again and risk running out of health until the next healing crystal. I ended up save-scumming a lot to check the whole map before planning which way to go. However, even with this strategy, some healing crystals tend to be too far from each other, forcing me to either rely on RNG or items before I reached the next crystal.



Although the game encourages item usage in battle, the game is not money-friendly either. Most enemies hardly drop enough money to buy pots, making you hope for item drops to gather enough money. Some enemies tend to drop expensive items that you can sell to make up for the money, but even with all these, you'd better not use them for items either, especially since you need to use the money to buy gears. Gears are so expensive that you won't afford them unless you grind, which might take hours to complete the set. Moreover, the gear upgrade tends to happen so often that you'll most likely ignore the grind and force your way through until you are stuck instead.

Combat
Combat is what ruins the game the most for me. Enemies are so strong that they may kill your party members if you aren't careful. A single ambush might also mean party wipes, especially if you refuse to use items in normal encounters like me. Luckily, random encounters aren't high - there are some chances to clear some maps without initiating a battle.

Despite the game relying on using everything you got for finishing the normal enemies, it wasn't generous enough with MP either. Your magic-based character will rely on MP to deal decent damage to finish the fight faster, or risk getting a lot of damage. However, there is hardly any way to recover your MP apart from using... you guessed it, items. You'll either have to go all out or use your spells efficiently to end the battle to reach the next healing crystal. It's still possible with some RNGs, although you'll spend most of your time save-scumming like me. Strangely, another physical-based party member has an MP drain skill, while the magic-based character doesn't have it. Well, at least you'll get an accessory to half MP cost later on, which helps a lot.



Since I hated the normal encounters, it wasn't a surprise that I hated the boss fights either. Most boss fights rely on RNG to beat since some of them can unleash some devastating skills in a row to wipe your party members or inflict special ailments on your healer. Their huge amount of damage doesn't help either since you'll have to either debuff the boss or frantically healing your party each turn, which costs a lot of MP to do. One particular boss also feels cheap with the use of instant-death skills and/or special ailments-inducing skill that I had to restart my game several times just to beat it.

Strangely, some bosses have difficulty spike after a certain point. I found myself stuck in some boss fights where the enemy can half my party member's HP in one skill. It doesn't take long before I noticed that I had to grind for hours to get the best gears, which makes the boss becomes easy to beat. The next few bosses strangely become easier afterward although I'm not sure whether it's because of my gear or the boss' difficulty itself that isn't balanced.

Party-wise, the party members are perfectly balanced. Each party member has a certain role in battle and losing one of them could risk you getting wiped out, especially if you are reluctant to use items as I did. It might take some time before you can understand their role though, and the difficult boss fights help with that.

Length and Difficulty
Although the in-game clock states that I finished the game in ~18h, a lot of hours was spent off-screen for save-scumming. It was hard to beat the game and you might force yourself to grind for hours if you are not strong enough to beat the bosses. However, despite all that, the story doesn't seem to interest me to see the game to the end. There were several occasions where I felt like giving up but continued anyway in hopes that the game will be better. Sadly, it doesn't. Don't get me wrong though, the story wasn't that bad - it was just not good enough to deal with the game's difficulty.

The game still has some extra content to beat, but I didn't have the mood to finish them. As I said before, I hated the combat in this game, and finishing the extra content means that I have to go through them all over again, so I decided to leave it unfinished.



Problems
Apart from some minor bugs and the known "stack level too deep" crash, there wasn't much to report with. There were some occasions where I didn't know where to go next - this happened twice at the beginning of the story; the game doesn't tell me where to go and new areas are too hard to notice if you don't remember the whole area to see which one that was recently opened. The main screen also has a long animation time before you can start or load your game.

Pros:
- Party members with different roles in battle
- A lot of healing crystals placed in between the maps

Cons:
- Some fights feel cheap with the huge damage, instant death attack, and status ailments spam
- It's hard to go between areas without using items

Final Rating: 4/5
I wasn't particularly fond of the game because of the battles. Despite that, I didn't feel bad after finishing the game, and the ending was enjoyable to watch. It's not worth it to finish the game for the ending if you struggle with the difficulty though, and while I was thinking of giving the game a 3 stars rating, I feel that hardcore players will find the difficulty to be suitable to them, making the game to be enjoyable to beat. It's still a solid turn-based RPG Maker game with a hard difficulty turned on, and let's just say that the difficulty doesn't suit my tastes.

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Typo:
- In the intro: "Royalty and Tyrrany have risen..." should be "Royalty and Tyranny have risen..."
- In the intro after the previous dialogue: "Zuleika was able to hold it's own because of it's massive defense." should be "Zuleika was able to hold its own because of its massive defense."
- Leg Sweep description: "Adds stunn status to your physical attack." should be "Adds stun status to your physical attack."
- When talking to a woman near Bernharst's west exit: "I need so find some flowers for my new vace." should be "I need to find some flowers for my new vase."
- When talking to Cynthia after you fetch Miken: "There's been some commotion comming from the cornfields." should be "There's been some commotion coming from the cornfields."
- When talking to the farmers at the barn: "Thanks for comming to help." should be "Thanks for coming to help."
- When talking to Jupiter in Bjarte Mountain: "She want's us to get it, and bring it to her." should be "She wants us to get it and bring it to her."
- After the previous dialogue: "I don't deny his existance, I just think he's very enigmic.." should be "I don't deny his existence, I just think he's very enigmic..."
- When Salomon wants to join your party: "Your going to The Everock aren't you?" should be "You're going to The Everock, aren't you?"
- When talking to Mason for the first time: "We knew The Oortas were comming to retrieve it, so we needed to beat you here." should be "We knew The Oortas were coming to retrieve it, so we needed to beat you here."
- After the previous dialogue: "How did you know we were comming?" should be "How did you know we were coming?"
- After defeating Mason: "Excelent." should be "Excellent."
- When talking to Lazzarian Soldier on the boat: "I normally don't like boats, the seem so unstable." should be "I normally don't like boats, they seem so unstable."
- When you interact with the green pentagram in Aeolus Woods"What a strange looking light comming from the water..." should be "What a strange looking light coming from the water..."
- When Jupiter talking to Neptune and Mars (when Venus and Salomon rests in Aeolus Woods): "Yes, unfortunately... I'm possitive." should be "Yes, unfortunately... I'm positive."
- After you defeat Jupiter: "a hoard of Lazzarian soldiers arrived in Zulieka and attempted to destroy it within." should be "a hoard of Lazzarian soldiers arrived in Zuleika and attempted to destroy it within."
- When the party talks to Earth for the first time: "In the mean time, why don't you just go wait in The Oort base." should be "In the meantime, why don't you just go wait in The Oort base?"
- After fighting Earth: "Looks like it's irreversable." should be "Looks like it's irreversible."
- After your party got captured: "I'm willing to sacrafice anything to help defeat The Lazzarian Empire." should be "I'm willing to sacrifice anything to help defeat The Lazzarian Empire."
- When talking to Artaxerxes for the first time: "Zuleika is now in the process of it's fall." should be "Zuleika is now in the process of its fall."
- After the previous dialogue: "Zuleika's fall is imminant!" should be "Zuleika's fall is imminent!"
- After the previous dialogue: "Lazzaria's time for domination is comming!" should be "Lazzaria's time for domination is coming!"
- After fighting Artaxerxes: "But, I can't do that with The Hidden Powers in existance..." should be "But, I can't do that with The Hidden Powers in existence..."
- When talking to Uranus in Lazzaria: "In the mean time, I think The Blue Moon has gone down to The Underwater City of Illiam." should be "In the meantime, I think The Blue Moon has gone down to The Underwater City of Illiam."
- Before fighting Neptune: "I can breath now!" should be "I can breathe now!"
- After fighting Neptune: "But, The Oortas are deffinitely up to something." should be "But, The Oortas are definitely up to something."
- After fighting Vulcan: "It seems as though The Sol has been completely depleted and dissappeared when you beat him." should be "It seems as though The Sol has been completely depleted and disappeared when you beat him."
- After the previous dialogue: "Maybe it's better off if The Sol dissappear." should be "Maybe it's better off if The Sol disappear."
- After the previous dialogue: "Without it's power, nobody will ever be able to mimic what Vulcan did ever again." should be "Without its power, nobody will ever be able to mimic what Vulcan did ever again."
- On the flashback when Venus meet Mercury for the first time: "Myself along with my other comrads have chosen you to become a new member of a special group of mercenaries that we are forging." should be "Myself along with my other comrades have chosen you to become a new member of a special group of mercenaries that we are forging."
- When talking to Mercury in Vintuse Stonehenge: "By activating them, they're power allows the user to alter the spacial bodies around them..." should be "By activating them, their power allows the user to alter the spacial bodies around them..."
- When talking to Saturn in Methuselan: "So he forced all it's residents to move out and back to the main city." should be "So he forced all its residents to move out and back to the main city."
- When talking to Saturn before the fight: "Most of them faught back..." should be "Most of them fought back..."
- When The Blue Moon tells about his story: "The Planets Third Hidden Power!" should be "The Planet's Third Hidden Power!"
- After the previous dialogue: "I will gain it's power!" should be "I will gain its power!"
- After the previous dialogue: "I was able to contruct a path through The Ironflow..." should be "I was able to construct a path through The Ironflow..."
- Elevator area in Urbazaan: "Elavator" should be "Elevator"
- After beating Mars: "I loved you enough to sacrafice myself in order to keep you safe and happy." should be "I loved you enough to sacrifice myself in order to keep you safe and happy."
- After the previous dialogue: "He sacraficed himself for you..." should be "He sacrificed himself for you..."
- When talking to The Blue Moon in Nyrn'fal: "It's power is unlike any other." should be "Its power is unlike any other."
- Before fighting "The Blue Moon" in The Hollow Moon: "The world will me mine soon enough!" should be "The world will be mine soon enough!"
- After destroying the Everock: "She knew the sacrafice she was making." should be "She knew the sacrifice she was making."

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Bugs:
- Salomon's Auto-life doesn't work after a few turns, but the buff is still there
- After level up the game tends to crash with stack level too deep error
"Script 'Level up screen' line 347: SystemStackError occurred.

stack level too deep"
- Sometimes the game will display that your party member's stat is decreasing on level up, although it's actually just a display error.