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So I went through and checked every level up in the old route with Alex (henceforth referred to as the boy route) and the new route(s) with Nina used by Werster and RetroPrime (henceforth referred to as the girl route).For documentation's sake, and so that we don't all have separate individual notes, I'll post my findings here.

Old route with boy

Wall 1: 4 power, 2 control. Total stats: 4/6/4, 2/1 Wall 2: 3 power, 2 control. Total stats: 7/8/7, 3/2 Wall 3: 4 power, 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 3/2 Pam: 1 power. Total stats: 10/10/10, 2/2 Curt: 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 4/3 Beth: 2 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 6/5 Bob: 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 7/7 Brian: 1 power, 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 8/7 Joy: 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 8/8 Allie: 2 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 10/9 Fay: 1 power, 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 10/10 (Need good exp to max out here) Travelling Team: Max out 10/10/10, 10/10 if bad exp. From here just keep maxed

Werster route

Wall 1: 1 control, 4 power, 1 control. Total stats: 3/5/5, 2/3 Wall 2: 3 control, 2 power. Total stats: 5/6/7, 5/7 Wall 3: 3 power, 2 control. Total stats: 7/9/9, 7/8 Pam: 1 power. Total stats: 8/9/10, 7/8 Curt: 1 power. Total stats: 9/10/10, 6/7 Beth: 1 power, 1 control. Total stats: 9/10/10, 7/8 Bob: 1 power. Total stats: 10/10/10, 7/8 Brian: 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 8/9 Joy: 2 control. Total stats: 9/10/10, 9/10 Allie: 1 control. Total stats: 9/10/10, 10/10 Fay: 1 power, 1 speed. Total stats: 10/10/10, 10/10 Travelling Team: speed control Sammy: speed power Spike: 2 speed control (9/10/10 power) Emily: 2 speed (gain 1 reaction) A. Coz: 3 speed (4 speed, 4 dash, 5 reaction, 4 stop. 9/10 control) Mario: Finish

RetroPrime route

Wall 1: 4 power, 2 control. Total stats: 3/5/5, 2/3 Wall 2: 3 power, 2 control. Total stats: 6/8/8, 3/5 Wall 3: 2 power, 2 control 1 power. Total stats: 8/9/10, 5/7 Pam: 1 power. Total stats: 9/10/10, 5/6 Curt: 1 control. Total stats: 9/10/10, 6/7 Beth: 1 control, 1 power. Total stats: 9/10/10, 7/8 Bob: 1 control. Total stats: 9/10/10, 8/9 Brian: 1 power. Total stats: 10/10/10, 8/9 Joy: 1 control, 1 power. Total stats: 10/10/10, 9/9 Allie: 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 9/10 Fay: 1 power, 1 control. Total stats: 10/10/10, 10/10 Travelling Team: speed, power. Total stats: 10/10/10, 9/10 Sammy: control, speed. Total stats: 10/10/10, 10/10 Spike: 2 speed Emily: 2 control A. Coz: 2 power Mario: Finish

Comparing the starting stats, which is the most important thing, we notice that the girl gets a lot more control early on, and has a higher stat total than the boy, in exchange for not maxed power. While this may seem detrimental, you actually don't have to have max power for the first few junior matches, and having more control lets you get more return aces more easily. Once the girl has maxed power and the routes converge (at the start of senior class) we can see that the girl does indeed have more total stats than the boy, even with the boy starting with a power advantage at the start of the game. In fact the girl is basically guaranteed to be max power and control before facing the varsity match for the travelling team, where the boy needs good exp values to have a chance at it. Hope this gives some idea as to the reasoning behind the change. I hope we share notes more often instead of individually checking everything as it comes. :)

Hey, I picked up the game recently as a 12hour challenge, and have been really enjoying myself. One thing I wanted to talk about was the walls at the start. From what I've watched, I tend to take the walls a little more aggressively than most. Lobbing on wall 1 in particular just feels really slow to me. It can be more risky, but since the walls are so early on, it doesnt bother me too much to reset from bad angles. My thoughts on the walls:

Wall 1 should be simple enough, with no lob panels. If you stand close enough to the left/right panels, and your angles are decent, you shouldnt have to move after hitting a panel, so its as if you're just hitting a wall most of the time. I always start off with a slice (blue) serve, and usually follow that up with a topspin (orange) hit. Once I'm close, I dont think it matters for volleys since they dont gain color, but I switch back to slice.

Wall 2 is awful. The lob panels rotate around fast enough that it makes it difficult to be as aggressive as wall 1 or 3. I've tried to test avoiding the lob panels by either standing farther back and lobbing over them into the drop panels, or by hitting to the sides, but its incredibly inconsistent and accidentally hitting the lob panels in either case is a guaranteed loss. So for now, I try to have the lob panels hit as straight as possible, so I dont have to worry about side to side movement. I avoid the drop panel at the start, serve with slice, and only use slice hits for the volleys. Speaking of the drop panels, they're pretty slow as well, since they dont reach you as quickly and you are usually farther away from having to return a lob. The main reason I use slice, especially for walls 2/3, is because topspin tends to fly a little higher so the angles are more awkward. Hitting a lob panel with topspin is terrible, since you have to go much farther back to return the hit.

Wall 3 is my personal favorite of the bunch, even if its harder than wall 1. From how I play it, you only have to worry about 4 passes of lob panels, or 2 total cycles. I always get to 16 hits by the time the first lob panel comes around, given that the angle I get from hitting the first left panel isnt too harsh. Again, the goal is to hit the lob panels as straight as possible, so you only have to move straight back and forth. There's also no drop walls, so most of the time loss from wall 2 is removed. Again, I serve with slice and solely use slice for the volleys.

For all 3 walls (less so for wall 2), the ideal spot for volley hits is just in front of the service line. This ensures that almost all angles that come back at you are hittable without needing to move to the side (exceptions being bad angles that also hit a left/right panel awkwardly). When hitting a lob panel, I move back to about in halfway in between the base and service lines, and quickly move back up. For wall 2, where a lob panel is quickly followed by a drop panel, i usually move a little closer and mash out slice. Occasionally I'll get a bad angle early on and get hit in the face, but again, this is the first 3 minutes of a 2-ish hour run, so it doesnt bother me too much to reset early on.