Strange occurrences have suddenly emerged as a danger to the peace in a world divided into four kingdoms, each represented by a certain season and in which the Quadeities are responsible for assigning duties. The adventurers set out on a mission to discover their destinies within this perplexing destiny and travel from kingdom to kingdom in their pursuit of answers.

You may employ up to three different roles for each character, allowing you to experience a greater choice of talents, effects, and even clothes. In combat based on turns, you may charge up special orbs to utilize the ability Act Over, which allows you to perform up to four consecutive actions. Simply enjoying the charming pixel graphics in this fantasy JRPG is a lot of pleasure in and of itself.

STORY

Chroma Quaternion is about fate, whether accepted or fought. The denizens of this world revolve around roles – their “calling” – issued by four deities (called the Quadeities), one for each season (or realm). Via the maidens in each of these four kingdoms, deities handpick citizens’ roles. Although role binding is absolute, it’s up to each person to make the most of what they have. The extremely ambitious can accept multiple roles, but the process is the same – the deities’ blessing is needed.

Ark and Foure encounter strange weather in their town of Furyu, which leads them to partner up with the princess and her maid (Evaile). Unnatural phenomena may be related to disruption with their kingdom’s deity, so the four set out to investigate.

The story begins but has several startling twists and interesting information about the events leading up to the game. What I appreciate most is that it’s not evident who or what the actual perpetrator is behind the scenes for a while, and even when discoveries are made, new twists and reveals shake things up over time. Chroma Quaternion avoids love triangles or any form of love involvement with its main characters. Instead, it concentrates on how each individual lives despite their circumstances. This extends to select adversaries, making the exposure of their pasts startling and devastating.

Despite its strengths, Chroma Quaternion fails to stand out among KEMCO’s RPGs. The plot is lackluster, and the characters aren’t EXE Create’s best. Serviceable, though not remarkable.

GAMEPLAY

Chroma Quaternion is a turn-based JRPG that follows Ark, Foura, Eara, and Evaile as they go to the world’s four corners – or kingdoms – to investigate recent events and learn more about themselves. Roles, equivalent to jobs/classes in other RPGs, drive progression. Each character starts with one role in one slot, but this quickly becomes several roles in three slots (ie. three roles at any time per character). Roles level up like characters, but with RP instead of EXP.

Increasing a character’s role unlocks new abilities and passives and boosts a primary stat with each level. The later boosts don’t matter much in the long run because stats quickly reach the hundreds and thousands, but they’re welcomed. Each job can reach level 100, but excitement wanes after level 40. 99% of role-specific skills are learned between 1-20, with only one role-agnostic skill at level 40. After that, only weak passives and modest stat buffs await. The role system keeps progression and battle exciting but requires a lot of grinding.