Yeah, Kronos was extremely manipulative, and his way of planning led to him gaining an advantage regardless of whether he won or lost, something that we didn't really see in the other antagonists. The demigods should also be extremely happy that he didn't rise to full power. If that had happened, he could have won. His abilities to manipulate time, his planning and scheming, something which happened ever since he was sent to Tartarus, the plethora of ways in which he tried to get back and the adventures that occured due to that - he was a core part of making the original pentalogy so amazing.