Beautiful Art.
Deep Stories.
Wonderful Music.
Three things which
Key always nails
Key/Visual Arts is another japanese company which specializes in Visual Novels... But they are not quite like other companies. Their projects are few in their number, but their quality is that of a masterpiece. Best known for some of the most heart warming or wrenching stories out there, Key's work almost involves some sort of tragedy, Clannad excluded. ( At least to my knowledge.)
Key's first two games were both released with standard versions which included a few brief ecchi scenes, but Key has focused on the story and character developement, instead of the the sex that a lot of games have, not criticizing other games for being trashy of course. Key's art is detailed and recognize, with beautiful character designs and beautifully crafted CG artwork, it's art is recognizeable once you get familiar with it.
It's first project, Kanon, told of a boy who returned to his home, 7 years after being in Africa. While he believed things to be the same, things had actually changed dramatically. His cousin has become a different person than he remembers, as do the other people he knows. And of all the bizzareness in this town, a strange girl who carries a backpack with wings seems to be strangely obssesed with him. Mystery is a key factor of this game. What has changed? What has he forgotten? And is this girl someone he has forgotten... Or merely a guardian angel who dwells amongst the snow?
With the success of Kanon and a theme to follow, their next project began.
In 1998, Key/Visual Arts released the Standard Version of what I believe is the best of their series, Air. The story this time? The tale of the events of the 1000th summer. A young man named Yukito Kunisaki arrives in a strange town on the sea and encounters a girl who dreams of times long ago and flying. The summer continues endlessly under the eternal sky and somehow a girl who may be waiting in the air is connected to everything happening in this town. A true tale of loss and sacrifice, the quest to save a person sealed away, still sorrowful as she awaits her freedom.
After this, there was a short time of no announcements for Key projects... Until 2000 when their next title CLANNAD was announced. Told to be more down to earth and realistic than their previous games, it was getting a lot of hype as greatness was expected from Key.
In 2002, which was when is was supposed to be released, they announced a full 2 year delay for the sake of production. While this made fans a little angry, it would all pay off in the end.
CLANNAD was released in February 2004 and became a instant classic. With a classic high school romance story built in, it was definetly more open to audiences than most. Air and Kanon created a deep sense of seriousness with complex stories and mysterious plots, thus not everyone could get into the games. But Clannad took a classic romance formula and created a nearly perfect game.
But the fans were not satisfied. Why? There weren't any ecchi scenes. They made plenty of money from the sales of CLANNAD but it was only enough to cover production costs, therefore no profit was made.
Thus immediately began their next project, a game which they said would be proof that Key had no plans to leave the 18+ industry.
TOMOYO After: It's a Wonderful Life was released in 05, becoming an alternate telling of a character, focusing strictly on the CLANNAD character, Tomoyo. It had no connections to CLANNAD whatsoever and took place as an AU or Alternate Universe plot.
Also released that year was a joint project with Kinetic Novels, a game which if played will never be forgotten. Planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ was released in the early 05 year on the PC. No special gameplay, no voice overs, just pure visual novel goodness. And while it didn't explode in sales, it was recognized for it's true tale of a future on earth.
Currently, Key is working on their next big project, Little Busters! for the PC, said to be released later this year. Currently no plot info is available, or at least none that I know of.
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