#Clannad game review full

The character art and backgrounds are passable, but starting to show their age. Visually, it’s evident that Clannad is a decade old. Its emotionally-charged end will wipe away any boredom you encountered earlier on. It’s a pity you have to play through School Arc endings other than Nagisa’s to reach it, but if you’re patient, it’s worth it. It’s horribly heartbreaking, but you won’t be able to look away. If you have even one sensitive bone in your body, you will cry your way through Nagisa and Tomoya’s final story. Though the rest of the game is certainly enjoyable, it’s this part of the story where Clannad truly excels. The After Story is exclusively focused on Nagisa, and takes place across the next stage of her and Tomoya’s lives together. While most of the game takes place in the “School Arc,” a final addition to the tale called the “After Story” can be unlocked once you see enough paths through.

Expect to spend a good 5-10 hours reading before anything really happens. I was hooked once the story got going.Īnd Clannad does take some time to really get into the main story. Her family is just as endearing: her bad-mouthed but doting father and her sensitive mother make an awesome team as a married couple, and as you may have guessed from the game’s name (Clannad is the Gaelic word for family), every path in the game focuses on familial relationships. Whether it’s her love of the horribly outdated Dango Family mascots or her desire to eat sweet bean bread, you can’t help but love her. The shy, insecure young girl is simply adorable.

#Clannad game review full

On the other hand, paths that deal with secondary characters, such as Tomoya’s best friend Sunohara and his younger sister Mei, are full of laughs, but struggle to remain compelling.īut, as you would hope, the game’s main heroine, Nagisa, steals the spotlight. Fortunately, Clannad executes this style of story superbly, and it’s a continually enjoyable/heart-wrenching read.

If you’ve played visual novels in this sub-genre extensively, then there’s little that you won’t have seen before. The girls’ paths all have emotionally touching stories, as you’d expect from the romance/slice-of-life genre. Tomoyo, a tough young woman who is known for physically putting delinquents and bullies in their place, is perhaps the most interesting. While they do have characteristics that match well-known clichés, such as the tsundere or sickly girl in need of protection, they develop beyond that and their true personalities emerge as you spend more time with them. The lead female cast are all likeable and manage to avoid relying on genre stereotypes. It’s well-written too, and rarely did I feel bogged down in tiring and unnecessary exposition - something most games in the genre struggle with. And, of course, you can skip through any text you’ve read previously (though the Skip button uses colours that makes it hard to tell when it can or cannot be used). Unlike many visual novels, each path is distinctly different, and on some I didn’t even encounter other main characters. Each path has dozens of dialogue choices, which is fantastic for replay value and lets you feel involved in how the tale plays out. There’s a ton of content, and the game will likely take you a minimum of 30-40 hours to read if you plan to see it through. There are five heroines, though other minor characters have their own stories and paths to go down as well. As you would expect from a visual novel, the game is focused on reading text, making choices, and ultimately developing a relationship with one of the main female characters. The story puts you in the role of high-school student Tomoya Okazaki, allowing you to experience his ordinary, everyday life. In these respects, Clannad doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s still an excellent example of how great the genre can be. I write about the same sort of characters in the same sort of settings that feature completely identical gameplay. When I write reviews for different visual novels, I often feel like I’m covering the same ground.