Hmm, I remember there being something about missing a few scenes if you do them in a wrong order, but I dont recall missing a entire ending because of it?
You donāt really have to play them in the right order. You have to get some scenes that are out-of-the-way if youāve already done the relevant route, yes, but you can still stumble across those.
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Huh? Itās been a very long time but I swear I remember doing Nagisaās route before Fuukoās, and then that meant that I couldnāt get Fuukoās light which meant I couldnāt get all the lights which meant I couldnāt get the full ending because Fuuko didnāt come back for AS.
No thereās nothing that locks you out of a light that would be terrible game design. I know you canāt get Tomoyoās light without doing Misae first, but you just have to do Tomoyo again if you fail that.
Treading on spoiler territory here, so Iāll just mark it.
The process is āComplete Fuko Routeā -> āWitness āPray for Fukoā scene in Nagisa/Koumura route (you lose an orb of light for this, doesnāt matter if youāve already completed Nagisa/Koumura here)ā -> āMeet Fuko in After Storyā -> āCollect Koukoās and Fukoās lights, giving you a net gain of one lightā
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Gosh it really has been about five years since I did a full playthrough of Clannad, sorry I brought something up based on a hazy memory of the game.
For some reason I wanted to do the routes in the order that the characters were shown in the intro video, so I did Nagisaās first. I remember at some point Tomoya saying something like āIf only I had done things differently, I might have been able to save Fuukoā which I guess was because I didnāt have a light to offer as a prayer yet. I continued merrily on with the game because I didnāt think there was a way to screw yourself. But when I got to AS Fuuko wasnāt in it, I looked it up and it turned out I couldnāt get the full ending because of that. Fuuko was just dead, I guess.
I remember because I started again and just pressed cntrl over every school days route and it took forever. But this was five years ago, some of what I remember might be wrong.
There are only two instances where order had to be kept in the CLANNAD. Spoilers if you donāt want to know about the orders:
The first is, as mentioned, doing Misae before Tomoyo. Even if you do Tomoyo first, you can go to Misaeās route then replay Tomoyo route to get Misaeās light orb and you donāt even have to see the Tomoyo ending again from there. The next is, as you mentioned, doing Nagisa last. Even if you do Nagisa first and arenāt able to play for Fuuko, once you get other orbs and play Nagisa to get into After Story, you can choose āPray for Fuukoā. One thing to note is that your choices in your playthrough of Nagisaās route directly affect what happens in After Story. It even asks you everytime you re-finish Nagisaās route āDo you want to save this info for After Story?ā
So tl;dr you didnāt have to restart the whole game if you made the correct choice during your final playthrough of Nagisaās route 
Right, but my point is I had no way of knowing what the correct choice was in order to get the full AS + true ending without a guide. Tbh I didnāt even realize you had to play Nagisa one last time to progress to AS, five years is a long time. I guess the route order isnāt the problem then. What I remember is that I tried to play without a guide and then had to restart the whole game in order to get the true ending, which I didnāt expect to be a problem because all the routes are separate and I would just be able to restart one if I failed. Thatās the issue I have. The game can unfairly lock you into a bad end.
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Iāll admit, the choice mechanism of CLANNAD is pretty fucking convoluted. If you go in there not knowing there is an After Story, you might not even figure out that you can unlock it 
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You lacked the free sprited adventurer soul, I just did everything I could before starting AS, then before finishing Nagisaās route for the third time (I think I did it three times), I tried to interact with every character I could without going out of her route I also made sure to make Tomoya learn about Nagisaās birthday just for precaution.
I love experimenting in visual novels, I really enjoy reading the bad ends. But if the free spirited adventurer soul means checking every single variance of all each routes, I definitely lack it.
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I did with Clannad what I try to do with every VN. On my first playthrough I take the choices that make the most sense to me (well, more like do everything to get to the girl I like the most). And after I get the ending (in Clannadās case Kyou/Ryou) Iām satisfied with, I change to a guide. The only exception is Rewrite where I tried really hard to get everything without a guide until I was forced to accept that it is basically impossible.
I guess I donāt have the VN adventurer spirit. I love playing RPGās and such, though.
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The reason Iām looking forward to the bookclub so much here is because SPOILERS I want to see peopleās theories and interpretations about the ending of After Story and the Alternate World.
Iāve heard several people give me different versions of explanations of certain parts. And to this day there are still several things unclear from the anime that I hope the VN will explain. And if not then I still look forward to see peopleās theories. (I never finished After Story from the old fan TL on the VN)
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Me too! Iām pretty sure the visual novel (and by extension the bookclub) will help make the ending a bit clearer for people! At the very least, this isnāt looking to be as convoluted as AIRās ending, haha!
Oh yeah, thatās what I do too. Iām in it for the story, not the frustration of exploration. Of all the VNs Iāve played, the worst to try without a guide is hands-down Steins;Gate. I honestly have no idea how anyone could get to the True End without any help. Itās just so pickyā¦
You become kami-sama and announce āI can see the ending!ā
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November 23rd release confirmed!
Get some hype
http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=74b800eadf353a0fe4d6dde43&id=c1862dfa2b
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The countdown has begun! Thank you everybody for the comments on whether you use a guide or not. Iām a little less ashamed now I know a lot of people actually use a guide.
Also I guess for the bookclub one is almost forced to use a guide, as you must take the ācorrectā route every week. And especially for CLANNAD the order of the routes has influence on the After Story, right?
Hmmm well not exactly. The bookclub just says which routes you have to finish by then to participate. So if you read fast, then you can take whichever route order you want~
Otherwise, then yeah, you might need one if you donāt wanna bother trying out choices until you get it lol.
As for route order, it doesnāt really affect after story. (AS spoilers) only the choices you make in your playthrough of Nagisaās route make a difference
However you do need to collect the ālightsā to reach after story, and those require some routes to be finished before others.
