Chronus Arc is a mobile phone RPG developed by Hit-Point Co.,Ltd. and published by Kemco, and is another intentional throw-back to Super Nintendo RPGs of the 16-bit era. Along with the phone version, a 3DS port was released on October 1st, 2015, and a PC port on November 14, 2018.
The Hero, Loka, is a Sorcerer Knight in training under his teacher, Teth, and the game begins with the two of them preparing for the "Time Rewinding" ceremony that occurs within their country of Kiribay once every decade wherein broken items are restored to normal. While traversing a nearby dungeon to obtain the MacGuffin necessary for the ceremony, Loka and Teth are attacked by a mysterious army. Loka is sent to return to the castle for reinforcements. When he returns, both the invaders and Teth have disappeared. Loka then sets out on a journey to find the missing Teth and discover the invader's motives.
Much like the company's previous title ported to 3DS, the battle system is turn-based with each character having a specific job and skill set, but a much greater degree of character customization with skill enhancement and class changes (due to having a smaller playable cast). The gameplay can be seen sharing elements from numerous other RPGs from the 16-bit era such as Final Fantasy, Tales of Phantasia and Lufia II.
Chronus Arc contains examples of:
- Action Girl:
- Sarna. She will not take "No!" for an answer when it comes to joining the search for Teth.
- Kuril as well.
- Amnesiac Hero: Loka has repressed the memories of his parents' deaths but they manifest subconsciously in the form of a recurring nightmare.
- An Ice Person: Sarna naturally learns ice elemental magic.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- The ability to escape from dungeons and warp to any previously-visited location on the world map for free are unlocked almost immediately.
- Monsters, gathering locations, and items are displayed on the mini-map in towns and dungeons.
- Bag of Spilling: An interesting example. A piece of Mana is earned for every 5 monsters killed. That Mana is used in special stores and is shared between every save file on the 3DS version.
- Berserk Button: Milka does not like having his capabilities as a King questioned.note
- Big Bad: Galbure.
- Blush Sticker: Kuril as seen in her character portrait.
- Body Horror: Utilizing Forbidden Techniques often does this as a result.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: All of Teth, Zars, and Geppel.
- Call A Mohawk A Mohican: When referring to Geppel's hairstyle.
- Childhood Friends: Loka and Sarna. So much so the king has no problem with Loka literally walking into the castle to casually say hi to his daughter.
- Companion Cube: Kuril feels very insecure without her hammer. Recruiting her to the party involves finding it for her.
- Cool Shades: Cordea's.
- Dead All Along: Sarna is being kept alive by the Kiribay Chronus Fragment after being killed by monsters along with Loka's parents. She is made fully whole again while inside the Gates of Time during the Time Rewinding in the ending.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: If you game over, the Continue option restarts you immediately after the last save or after the previous battle, whichever was later.
- Disappeared Dad: Kuril is traveling the world to search for her missing father.
- Disney Death: Sarna during the ending, but gets better.
- Doomed Hometown: Not Kiribay, but Loka did have to flee from his parents' original home when they were killed by monsters as shown in a nightmare he has at the start of the game.
- End Game Plus: Having a Clear file allows the player to begin New Game Plus or continue from after the ending to clean up loose ends and fight the Optional Boss.
- Expy:
- At a glance, Geppel looks a lot like Android 16.
- Galbure wants eternal life and youth after feeling he was stiffed by his teacher and will sacrifice the entire world in the process if he has to. Sounds quite a bit like Xande.
- Fetch Quest: Retrieving Kuril's hammer and finding Golden Flowers to power up Loka's ring are plot examples.
- Generation Xerox: The king laments that Sarna is just as stubborn as her mother.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: King Milka is a one-man version of this.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: "Sure, you suddenly appear outside of your jail cell claiming the king has summoned you. I'll just let you head right up to his unguarded throne room fully armed and without an escort." That's not sarcasm. They do nothing to help out during the actual fight, either. But, then again, he never actually summons them during the battle, confident he can defeat the heroes on his own.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Sarna, but she will fight for the sake of those she loves.
- Heel–Face Turn: Kuril, even though she wasn't really a Heel to begin with, she immediately stops helping Geppel after realizing he's just using her. She teams up with Loka and Sarna as their journey will allow her to search for her father without having to lie to people.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Loka plays it straight.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The first battle against brainwashed Teth.
- It's All About Me: King Milka.
- Jumped at the Call: Sarna more so than Loka.
- The King's Soldiers Are Useless: Actually averted. When the people of Kiribay begin turning into monsters, the soldiers are able to confine and isolate them before they can do any serious damage.
- Level-Up Fill-Up: Averted.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: In the early game, most damage will be done with regular attacks and strength-based Special skills. After characters learn their stronger elemental spells and have boosted stats from class changing, magic will be able to deal out 10x as much damage when paired up with the proper Techniques.
- Magic Knight: Loka. Coined "Sorcerer Knight" in-game.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Sarna and Loka, respectively.
- The Medic: Sarna. She learns healing skills and magic in her initial class. Once class changes open up, anyone can become a White Mage.
- Missing Mom: Heavily implied that Sarna's mother is already dead by the time the story begins.
- The Mole: Kuril. Not for very long though.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Geppel, after getting enough sense knocked into him to free him from Galbure's brainwashing.
- New Game Plus: Everything carries over and, given the short length of the game, is a more viable method to obtaining items needed for Class Change than grinding Mana.
- Palette Swap: Every monster type has at least one.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Kuril. Her hammer is taller than she is and she has the highest natural strength stat.
- Power Trio:
- The Hero: Loka.
- The Lancer: Sarna.
- The Big Guy: Kuril.
- Random Encounters: Only in the world map. Averted in dungeons.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Sarna. Aside from joining the quest, she had personally befriended several people in town and even wants to say good-bye to them before leaving.
- Self-Made Orphan: Twisted. Kuril did not kill her father, but she does have to defeat his reanimated corpse.
- Series Mascot: The Poncho enemies.
- Shock and Awe: Loka's natural magic is thunder elemental.
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Spiritual Successor: To Grinsia. - Teen Idol: Kuril.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Even after Geppel is brought back to his senses, Kuril refuses to forgive him for his actions.
- Tomboy Princess: Sarna. Lampshaded early on.Loka: "And you were such a tomboy when we were kids." (Thinking) Come to think of it, you still are.
- 20 Bear Asses: Several quests involve turning in items that randomly drop from various monsters. Many of them can also be found at various harvesting points though.
- Where It All Began: That locked door in the Chronus Shrine at the beginning of the game isn't revisited or opened until the group has traveled the entire rest of the world and leads to the final dungeon.
