The Clannad visual novel is divided into two segments, or story arcs—School Life and After Story—which serve as different phases in the overall story. At the beginning of the game, only the School Life arc is available to play, but once the player has completed the scenarios available in School Life, After Story is made accessible. This is through the collection of eight lights, or orbs, which can be obtained after a character's scenario is completed; one of the lights will disappear while still in School Life, but will reappear in After Story.
School Life contains the final year of high school of the main protagonist, Tomoya Okazaki, in which he meets all of the characters in the game, though the focus is kept on the five heroines in the story, including the main heroine Nagisa Furukawa. After Story is mainly a continuation of Nagisa's story, and is set immediately after School Life when Nagisa and Tomoya are now living their lives as a couple, and extends into the next ten years. Characters from School Life do appear, but play minor roles compared to their roles in that arc. In order to view the true ending of Clannad, all thirteen lights must be obtained. Originally, the lights were meant to be items that players could use in the game, but since this increased the game's difficulty, and detracted from the storyline, the function of the lights was changed to be simpler and less intrusive.
Clannad's gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the game screen which represents either dialogue between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. An important aspect of Clannad (as in nearly every visual novel) are the "decision points" which appear every so often which give the player the chance to choose from a limited number of options. The time between these decision points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. The game pauses at such moments and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story, and there are thirteen possible endings. Each plot line can be achieved through multiple replays.
Clannad is Key's second longest work, as reported by Yūto Tonokawa where he stated that Clannad is about 4000 words less than Key's 2008 game Little Busters! Ecstasy. While both of Key's first two previous works, Kanon and Air, had been released first as adult games and then censored for the younger market, Key's third work Clannad was released for all ages and does not contain risqué situations or barely any fan service other than one small scene.
School Life contains the final year of high school of the main protagonist, Tomoya Okazaki, in which he meets all of the characters in the game, though the focus is kept on the five heroines in the story, including the main heroine Nagisa Furukawa. After Story is mainly a continuation of Nagisa's story, and is set immediately after School Life when Nagisa and Tomoya are now living their lives as a couple, and extends into the next ten years. Characters from School Life do appear, but play minor roles compared to their roles in that arc. In order to view the true ending of Clannad, all thirteen lights must be obtained. Originally, the lights were meant to be items that players could use in the game, but since this increased the game's difficulty, and detracted from the storyline, the function of the lights was changed to be simpler and less intrusive.
Clannad's gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the game screen which represents either dialogue between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. An important aspect of Clannad (as in nearly every visual novel) are the "decision points" which appear every so often which give the player the chance to choose from a limited number of options. The time between these decision points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. The game pauses at such moments and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story, and there are thirteen possible endings. Each plot line can be achieved through multiple replays.
Clannad is Key's second longest work, as reported by Yūto Tonokawa where he stated that Clannad is about 4000 words less than Key's 2008 game Little Busters! Ecstasy. While both of Key's first two previous works, Kanon and Air, had been released first as adult games and then censored for the younger market, Key's third work Clannad was released for all ages and does not contain risqué situations or barely any fan service other than one small scene.
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