I absolutely loved refrain but I’m going to have to go with terra, it really did a 180 with the story and not only introduced some great new characters but showed different sides to characters we’ve already met giving you a different perspective on the overall story, and the ending was vey philosophical and deep while I felt refrain had a bit more of a feel good ending
I’m going to give Tomoyo After, Kud Wafter, and the VN’s After Story a try before I vote here. I want to have all the choices available to me with this one.
That being said, out of the ones I have read, Refrain and AIR are some of my favorite story arcs from any Key game. It’s hard to choose between the two. For now, I’ll give a slight edge to Refrain because it gives you the choice for a happy ending or a more ‘realistic’ ending.
Even if all the others were 9.9’.s, Refrain is a 10. Unmatched and absolutely phenomenal for a visual novel to achieve what refrain did.
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I’m not surprised with most of the responses here; heck, even I agree with them.
Refrain was phenomenal and probably the best single story out of all of Key’s work. Of course, it’s not enough to make it the best key work, but it brings it up a fair lot because of that.
Ughhhhhhh… I can’t decide between Refrain and AIR. I need more time to think about this.
As mostly a Rewrite fanboy, I chose Terra. I loved that story. However, Refrain was REALLY close. They were both exceptional pieces of writing that I enjoyed a lot. Terra really stuck with me though.
These “pick one out of (almost) all amazing choices” threads are like a mental stress test that’s out of control. Surprised my brain hasn’t oozed out my ears at this point.
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Asplease.
Refrain is a truck of emotion, what makes you consider putting Air next to it?
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Because AIR knew that it was enough, and stuck with it. Refrain was amazing, but the ending is full of mixed messages.
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It went downhill after a certain point.
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I put in a vote for Terra. Because we actually get to hear HanaKana speak. After all the suffering we went through, none of the routes ended in a completely happy way.They all implied that the end of the world was delayed, not avoided. The one final timeline where there was a solution, there was still suffering but we were able to finally have a happy ending for at least some of those that we really cared about. There were a few moments that hit hard me in this respect: seeing Lucia with no gloves (meaning she never had to go through that suffering in her route), and the ending sequence showing that the Occult club still lives on.
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There’s another final route where we get to hear KanaHana speak, and she’s a lot more expressive in that one 
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Eh. Refrain didn’t have much build up until Yuiko’s route, so it’s a big no for me.
Isn’t that one reason why Refrain is so good? That you don’t see it coming, the foreshadowing was there but it wasn’t obvious (at least in the VN), and then becomes noticable, reflecting on the extreme relevance of the previous routes is great. I enjoyed Refrain even more just because I didn’t expect it. At least that’s my opinion anyway.
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I liked Refrain, I’m just saying that it would have been better with build up in at least more routes. The main reason that I was disappointed in LB was the build up. I think build up’s are what makes Key have good visual novels. And anime’s since they’ve done 2 anime originals. (Refrain spoilers) I also don’t like the reflecting. Cause the other routes were pretty forgetful, so you have to re-do/re-watch it to realize it. That’s not a bad idea, but not a good one either. Refrain made me only satisfied for the ending. Not really a fan of (Refrain spoiler) All the girls disappearing and the original LB left only.
Refrain best.
I would disagree on this whole heartedly. Just being unpredictable isn’t … good? By almost any stretch of the word. It needs to make both thematic and narrative sense for a ‘twist’ to really work. Refrain does that.
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As far as the anime goes, it’s why Refrain isn’t so good. You have to sit through a full season of mehness before you see worthwhile stuff… and then the ending is so mismanaged that you begin to question if it was even worth watching. That’s what I’ve heard from people who didn’t read the VN first at least~
I agree. Also I think predictable is not necessarily bad, After Story was very predictable for me; but the build up and actual execution made it very good.
Still for me Refrain is the best.
Also surprised to see that Tomoya After has more votes than AS. Is it really that sad? The final route of the other fandisc Kud Wafter wasn’t that sad at all.
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I think the point is to vote on the best final route, not the saddest. While you are more likely to remember things that affect you emotionally it doesn’t have to be sad for one to consider it the best. While I haven’t read it myself, I have read that Tomoyo After’s ending is sadder than After Story’s for some people.
I didn’t like AS, mainly because Nagisa was annoying. The Akio and Ushio stuff was nice, but nothing spectacular.
Tomoyo After was just a better story to me.
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