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[b]King of Volleyball[/b] is a cute and fun visual novel with an emphasis on your character, a sort of sports fitness life coach type of freelance problem solver, is approached by a manager for two gals that are suddenly not performing well on their beach volleyball. They were considered some of the best at the college/university level, but suddenly their chemistry and coordination were just “off” for some reason, so their manager has come to you to see if you can pick their brains, ask difficult questions, and see what’s made their game suddenly change.
The VN gives you choices as you go along, with several story outcomes, about five in total. While each is not very long, but reasonably long enough of a read to be quite interesting, The choices you’re given will have various outcomes on the overall story, and how things play out. There is a good mix of witty humor, presented in a flowing way, and it’s quite sensible and stays very realistic. The key ideas behind a work like this is that it does maintain a good practical sensibility about it, while still allowing the suggestive dialog to roll on out, which in turn makes it all the more intriguing of a read.
One of the outcomes was quite difficult for me to figure out, as I tried many different combinations, skipping around bits I’d read over a few times, trying other ideas with each of the two players as I interacted with them, but Suzy’s ending was very tough, while the others happened pretty often, if you kinda did what made sense. It was weird, so I don’t know which choices created the final outcome, but I eventually got it. Was confusing there a bit, and not as open and straight-forward as some of the other endings seemed to be.
The asking price for a read this size is probably pretty good on a sale. It’s only at $4 USD initially, which is pretty good! On sale, even better! It has a pretty good bit of substance, but it’s not going to take you many hours to get through, as each arc is fairly similar, with only choices changing some of the dialog or possible outcomes. The overall context remains fairly similar outside of that, so you still kinda do a similar route in each eventual outcome. Not a lot of nudity until some of the endings, with just some slight reveals. It’s not way over-the-top with it, but the wording is a bit more eroge in its connotation at various times.
[h1]Pros[/h1]
It’s fairly balanced at the price it’s at. I still like the idea of grabbing on sale, but it’s not a huge ask for the amount of material in the visual novel itself. I finished all routes in about three and a half hours.
Your character and the other characters are interesting enough and feel like they have identities. Keeps it interesting with their various temperaments, philosophies, and overall personification. Makes for a nice story having this really ingrained in the reading.
This touches on some great issues that are considered “taboo”, and shedding some light on it in a provocative way without being forceful in obligating the reader to agree or disagree with it. Just presented in a nice concise way, as the characters would be living it in a real-life kind of experience.
There’s some interesting humor, and some references from whatever’s going on in their world with these same references. I have seen in a few reads by this developer so far some mentions of the same names and other small bits, but it gave it more life in a way, as though they have their own events in that world, and popular spots, important people, and little things like that popping up. Hard to explain what I mean. I like that they decided to transcend beyond one writing, and sort of sneak little bits in that are side parts, but still talked about by the characters in each.
The end CG drawing material is very small in the overall context of this visual novel, but it’s cute and short. No acts, just reveals, so it’s more like a look-see, rather than a porn game wrapped inside a graphic novel. The word context is fairly heavy in parts though, so it’s a lot more reading context than actual skin and whatnot. I’d like to see more, personally, but I’m adding this to pros for those that would prefer very light elements. Still NSFW! [i]Definitely[/i] wouldn’t want your unaware folks dropping in and reading along, unless they [b][u]want[/u][/b] to.
Various choices, various endings. The story can change based on your choice array, but it feels a bit boxed in and limited as to what really does what in this one. This one’s mixed. Choices matter though!
It has a nice atmosphere, and is light-hearted, warm and overall has a great feeling to it. It’s not earth-shattering work, but for the price, enough efforts were put in to really give this a look for those who may be curious. It’s a good one to have in the collection for the avid reader! Make sure you know what you’re getting into though! Not an all audiences kind of theme, if you get my drift.
Special thanks to [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32110520-Simetria-League/]Simetria League[/url] for their support!
[h1]Cons[/h1]
It could use more content and story drive overall. It feels like it’s a little bit flat at parts, but then there are other parts that flourish fairly well! Still rather weak, especially where choices sometimes don’t seem to determine very much in the overall grand scheme, or you figure out one choice that makes or breaks an ending.
Needs more nudity! I wish there was a bit more instead of just ending stuff. Not enough revealing parts, which could have complemented the reading content a bit more.
You only interact with a handful of characters, so variation, and story, and choices are kind of limited and basic. Would have been fun with more characters and more attitude in the mix as a result.
The one ending I mentioned above was very cryptic and confusing for me. Needs fine tuning and balance so each ending is fairly even in your chance to get one or another route opened or closed off. Structure could improve overall.
A bit short in the long run, and it is repetitive in how the flow happens, regardless of your choices. I’d like to see more variation.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
Overall, worth it at its asking price. This is a fairly solid visual novel which should get a little more attention, to say the least. It’s right near that sweet spot of being not too short, not too long. I had a nice time reading through, though I wanted more nudie pictures! I hope there is one that’s a lot more risque down the road! Good developer, kind to speak with, and supportive of the gaming community and our efforts we put in to make things happen on the curator and review front. Reviews are essential, and a big draw sometimes if done right and potentially attention-grabbing. Please do consider supporting those that would gladly support you in the same regard, given that “if the shoe was on the other foot” philosophy.
Due to character limitations, I had to cut the end and add it in comments. For the entire review all in one place, please feel free to check [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/candytray/discussions/1/2569816492268494100/]My Super-fabulous uncut extended version on Candy Tray![/url]
