Chronus Arc

Chronus Arc is indeed a more dated RPG from Hit-Point. Yet, a lot of the tropes and common things that you have seen in a bunch of other Kemco RPGs are here, with crafting, quests, and material gathering, along with building your skills up and learning magic. The gameplay loop of Chronus Arc is well-balanced enough that the battles are fun, but the block puzzles can get a bit tiresome after a while, and the fact you’ll have to enter and exit certain dungeons to grind for materials at times can be pretty boring, so it’s not really that engrossing compared to Hit-Point’s newer titles, though I did notice that Chronus was quite a bit tougher than most of the other Kemco RPGs I played, which may be a plus for those who tend to find these games too easy.

Chronus Arc is not a bad old-school RPG by any means, but after all the time since its original release, it now suffers from the comparison with other games from even the same developer that are already out on Switch.

Despite its glaring flaws, I found Chronus Arc to be fun. The fresh take on equipment upgrades and the emphasis on puzzles are really nice to see in a JRPG. The music and graphical overhaul in comparison to your standard KEMCO RPG is a sight for sore eyes (and ears) as well. These are really the only things holding me back from giving Chronus Arc an even harsher verdict, because even partially gating the class system behind the in-game shop and grinding literally being 75% of the content just does not feel that great in practice.