Man, there’s too many TA versions now. I’m guessing this’ll be PE without the mass of H.
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Looks to be that way. Which is pretty neat I s’pose.
Yup! Frankly, I think that is a very good thing. Plenty of people didn’t want to play the game due to the H-scenes. I believe removing them is best for Key’s international growth and for the story as a whole.
Oh yeah. I’ve been avoiding making an all ages patch because I figured there’d be some translation news out of nowhere, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon. It’s good to get it out around Clannad time though. Like, a year gap between them would be perfect.
People have wanted the extra scenes for ages, and it’s the Key VN I consider the best, so it’s nice to get this. It was always annoying that people couldn’t just skip to the Opening movie where all the H ends…
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Don’t know where else to put discussion about Tomoyo’s character in Tomoyo After, so I’ll just put it here.
Rereading Tomoyo route in CLANNAD for the bookclub once again made me realize that Tomoyo doesn’t really undergo much character development. She comes to treasure Tomoya of course, but that’s about it. When the two of them meet at the end she’s still the same person she was before.
So I went on to read Tomoyo After and… yep, Tomoyo’s still the same. What’s especially noticeable is how she’s still dense as all hell regarding other people’s feelings. This comes up time and time again in regards to Tomo and her mom where she is almost always at odds with Tomoya who does more thinking ahead. In fact, since she’s more of a side character for the first 2-3 chapters her negatives stick out even more than usual. She’s actually really judgmental towards Yuko before being explicitly told the reason she ‘abandoned’ Tomo. And she still does a horrible job reading Tomoya’s feelings. The only time she’s dead on is when she gives Tomoya her thoughts on how to convince Takafumi, gotta at least give her credit for that.
So we’ve gone through a whole route and three chapters of fandisc and Tomoyo has hardly changed much at all. Then comes the Tomoyo After After chapter, and… holy shit she’s actually grown! Meekly standing in the back and letting others do the thinking is no longer an option and it really feels like she’s overcome that flaw now. It’s Tomoyo in her top form once more, but unlike before when in trying to balance cherry trees with boyfriend she failed splendidly and missed vital hints, she actually does a way better job this time around. It also feels like she’s more subtle than she was before and not nearly as easy to read. Like… she’s undergone about three years’ worth of character development. She’s actually grown up.
I find it quite interesting how Tomoyo’s development is really mostly constricted to the finale. It makes sense, she’s forced to stand on her own two feet and she’s the one who needs to be relied on. And she fully takes on a heavy responsibility at the end by herself as she decides to devote her life to helping other people online. This time, without a clear goal to work towards, and with no one to rely on but herself and what she’s learned and come to treasure in life. It’s a really nice conclusion for her in so many ways.
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Tomoyo After is on Steam Greenlight.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=659729842
Go vote so that the game can be released on Steam!
Tomoyo After is pretty good imo. I have a few problems with it, but it was enjoyable.
The biggest issue was definitely Tomoya. He didn’t really feel like the same character as the one from Clannad. He felt a lot more generic and much less “angsty” generally speaking. I guess that’s to be expected since he’s no longer in high school, but he held on to his angst for quite a bit of time in After Story, so I’d say it’s still very much out of character. He’s generally a lot more competent at just about everything in Tomoyo After, which I would argue is to its detriment. This especially killed the sort of feeling of chemistry that I felt Tomoyo had with Tomoya in Clannad, since this Tomoya just doesn’t feel like the same character.
Takafumi was definitely a highlight. Just an all-around enjoyable character, nothing to complain about there. Kanako wasn’t quite as interesting, deep, or amusing as Takafumi, but she was cute and still generally a good character She definitely started pulling some weight in the latter half. Tomo was a plot device, and the parts of her that weren’t just felt like Ushio 2.0 to me. Obviously Tomoyo After was quite a bit shorter than the original Clannad visual novel, but I was kinda disappointed in how poorly spread out the good characterization was, considering how excellently characterized the entire cast was in the original vn.
The ending just kinda sidewinds you out of nowhere. I like the idea of it, and the monologue Tomoyo gives is pretty hard hitting, but the implementation felt off to me. It’s not like Planetarian where the super depressing ending was just a logical consequence with substantial tie ins to the threads of the plot. Tomoyo After just flips the “time for bad shit to happen” switch, with basically no way for the reader to expect the sudden increase in drama. In other words, it feels forced, rather than natural.
Bad h-scenes are bad. Not much to say here.
On the other hand, holy shit that soundtrack tho.
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Tomoyo is my favorite girl in CLANNAD and I can’t be so wrong even after finishing Tomoyo After.
She has her weakness alright. She is judgmental towards Yuko and has to be told in the face for that before she can accept that Tomo is best left in her mother’s care. But still, it doesn’t change the fact that despite her rough appearance, she’s gentle towards people she cares for. The final arc nothing else but shows her determination and love, and it’s so valuable. I sure as hell would love to have someone like her as my girlfriend/wife.
The most annoying scene, god why does it have to always be one scene I dislike in any game I play, is of course when she tries to distract Tomoya rebuilding the school. But eh, it just proves her willingness to do anything to protect her family.
As for the game quality, graphic wise I prefer character art from CLANNAD. I don’t quite like how they designed Tomoyo here. Though, it’s a different thing after three years gap for the After After Arc, as the art is appropriate (she seems to be more mature).
I can’t complain about the ending. I like it, it’s beautiful but it’s so painful I don’t know if I can replay the ending once it’s released on Steam. I’d love to, but the whole After Arc is so painful. So many days and I still can’t get over it.
For newcomers to this game, especially since there’s a bookclub coming up, I made a walkthrough for this game. It’s on Steam, you can read it here: Tomoyo After Walkthrough
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So, without spoiling too much, how long is D&T? Can it be completed within a couple of hours?
I can’t say for sure but I read in a guide that it would take you at least 50+ hours if you’re lucky. Before that, you have to unlock the main story leading up to that, which would approximately take 25 hours to say the least.
It’s very lengthy since I was up to day 5 back when I was playing TA fan translation. To me, It was basically trial and error, but I’ll have to retry again when I’ll be playing the one on Steam.
Sad. Then there’s little point to do a complete race of it. I might still try do a live stream of early parts after the bookclub. If people want to get in on that, we can like see who gets the furthest in a set time span.
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I just started and I’ll be sharing my thoughts more as the bookclub goes on, but I just wanted to say that the Dungeons & Takafumis opening dialogue is amazing.
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Would you guys recommend this if I haven’t finished Clannad?
You need to at least have finished Tomoyo’s route as this is a direct continuation from that. Other than that I think you’re fine not finishing CLANNAD (although I’d suggest doing that first anyway).
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(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 1 hour unless flagged)
Greetings. Need the TA logo`s background so much and appreciate any help. Asking here because this picture is from Tomoyo After Bookclub page which is located on this very site and obviously was made from original logo, so the doer should have background as well. If so, share, friend, Motherland wiil not forget you.
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Sorry to say that I’m pretty sure it was just traced and re-drawn. If you’ve got a program that can do vector art I’m sure it’s fairly easy to recreate.
I think Tomoyo After should get a live-action adaption. It will likely not get an anime adaption, so I think live-action will be Tomoyo After’s best choice. It’s also Key’s only story with a linear story that can actually work in the live-action medium, and since it doesn’t have Key’s usual supernatural things present in all their other stories, it works even better.
Benefits to a live-action adaption
- Not having to argue/riot about the animation studio if it isn’t Kyoto Animation.
- The designs won’t matter because character designers won’t have to choose between going for the original Hinoue Clannad designs or the Fumio TA designs or a design mixing the two up.
- Key won’t have to settle for crowdfunding for only a 40-60 minute film, but can actually have a good 90-minute film.
- It would be a good test-run for Key to see how it turns out. If successful, it can introduce Key to the live-action market so they’ll have the anime market, VN market, and live-action market.
Anyone agree?
I don’t know. I just think that Tomoyo After is a story that would work well with a live-action Japanese film. I know this post won’t matter to Tomoyo After’s future, but I just love thinking about the future of Key.
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