I wish I had more to say about this one but honestly, within the few days that have passed since completing it most of my immediate memories have come and passed. It's a shame that I feel the way I do about ONE. because I'm actually a really big fan of Kanon. In fact, I think I'm a stronger defender of the early Jun Maeda material in that game than most, but Jesus Christ is his writing here rough.
Hisaya's routes are generally solid enough - I think it's universally agreed upon that Misaki is the strongest route here, close enough in quality to the lesser Kanon routes that I almost wish it had been held off and implemented into that release. Mio's route is at best pleasant and inoffensive but truly just passable. Akane's is heartfelt if a little substanceless. Frankly, the less said about Nagamori and Shiina's routes, the better. Nanase is a lesser version of every tsundere route in every Key game that would come to pass. Literally why is Shun's route even here?
The biggest problem with ONE. is protagonist Kohei, who frankly isn't really a character so much as a set of reactions to fit whatever tone the author wants for the individual route at hand. His personality is so baseless and flexible that you never get the feeling that he's consistent across these stories. It becomes hard to care about or get emotionally invested in his experiences in the overarching narrative because there's not much tangible about Kohei Orihara as a person. The melodrama of ONE. doesn't feel like overarching character arcs for its heroines, so much as plot beats that happen, are addressed, and discarded thereafter.
Frankly I don't understand what the purpose of this remake (really bordering on remaster as very little was actually remade beyond the visual and musical assets) was if they weren't going to address how shallow the vast majority of the stories within are. It's at least halfway interesting as a historical piece, in which you can trace the ideas for a myriad of later Key works, most especially Kanon, CLANNAD, and Angel Beats!, but that's about all it has going on in current day. That would fine if this was discussing the original 1998 release, but as a remake this essentially fails the purpose of remaking a visual novel. If my opinion is worth anything to you - Misaki and Akane's routes are legitimately worth your time, and the rest... do what you want. You're not missing much.
Hisaya's routes are generally solid enough - I think it's universally agreed upon that Misaki is the strongest route here, close enough in quality to the lesser Kanon routes that I almost wish it had been held off and implemented into that release. Mio's route is at best pleasant and inoffensive but truly just passable. Akane's is heartfelt if a little substanceless. Frankly, the less said about Nagamori and Shiina's routes, the better. Nanase is a lesser version of every tsundere route in every Key game that would come to pass. Literally why is Shun's route even here?
The biggest problem with ONE. is protagonist Kohei, who frankly isn't really a character so much as a set of reactions to fit whatever tone the author wants for the individual route at hand. His personality is so baseless and flexible that you never get the feeling that he's consistent across these stories. It becomes hard to care about or get emotionally invested in his experiences in the overarching narrative because there's not much tangible about Kohei Orihara as a person. The melodrama of ONE. doesn't feel like overarching character arcs for its heroines, so much as plot beats that happen, are addressed, and discarded thereafter.
Frankly I don't understand what the purpose of this remake (really bordering on remaster as very little was actually remade beyond the visual and musical assets) was if they weren't going to address how shallow the vast majority of the stories within are. It's at least halfway interesting as a historical piece, in which you can trace the ideas for a myriad of later Key works, most especially Kanon, CLANNAD, and Angel Beats!, but that's about all it has going on in current day. That would fine if this was discussing the original 1998 release, but as a remake this essentially fails the purpose of remaking a visual novel. If my opinion is worth anything to you - Misaki and Akane's routes are legitimately worth your time, and the rest... do what you want. You're not missing much.