Shadsie
Sage of Tales
Reading one of the entries on the main (about a Fi-centric fancomic) got me to thinking about the relative merits/demerits of the various partners in the Zelda games, or at least my opinions on what I thought their advantages/disadvantages are. Spoiler-tagged just in case.
Starting from the top:
Navi
Advantages: Identification of enemies and their weak spots (I found this very useful), ability to clue you in as to where to go next should you lose your way (no doubt useful for young/inexperienced players), and I thought the part in the end where she decided to stand by you no matter what when facing Ganondorf made her cool (character-wise).
Disadvantages: "Hey! Listen! Watch Out!" and "Dagnabbit you freakin' fairy, I KNOW I should go back to Kakariko/Death Mountain/up the river-wherever! I'm trying to find heart-pieces/rupees/am having fun riding Epona right now, leave me alone and SHUT UP already!"
Tatl
Advantages: Less annoying prompts than Navi (the bicycle bell sound), entertaining snarky attitude, an actual character-motivation of her own (wanting her brother and friend back).
Disadvantages: The prompts are still kind of annoying, less helpful than Navi in identification of ememies and weaknesses (she does it, but sometimes leaves you with a blank, i.e. "This is a disgusting toad. I hate it").
The King of Red Lions
Advantages: He doubles as your transportation! He also has a mystic air about him and made the game feel like "sailing the seas with Sean Connery." He also has a tragic bent at the end that I just loved, storywise - He gave his life to save the future and to mark the passing of eras. Aw.
Disadvantages: He doesn't follow you into battle so he doesn't give you intel for that, sometimes he talks to me when I'm trying to climb aboard him, which is annoying.
Midna
Advantages: She's Midna - 'nuff said! Okay so she's hands-down my favorite of Link's partners. Why? Not only is she entertaingly snarktastic, she is actually a well-developed character in her own right with her own mysterious and tragic backstory that's unviled as you play the game. Of all the partners, I think she might potentially be the most frustrating the work with if you had to deal with her in real life, because of her initial rudeness, but for the fictional world of Hyrule and gameplay, her abundance of "character" makes her awesome. She has a lot of character-growth, going from rude little imp with possibly dark motives to someone who begins to care about you and who you (or I, at least) grow to care about.
Disadvantages: That laugh is sometimes grating. She doesn't have the enemy/weakness identification system at all - she advances the plot and helps you get places, but she doesn't help you much with intel on enemies.
Fi
Advantages: An enemy identification system that is like Navi's and Tatl's and then-some. She even tells you what your battle-rating is against particular species. She has an indentification system for characters/NPCs that I enjoy (hey, I'm a fanfiction writer, I like all this canon character/species info stuff)! Like Midna, she generally stays out of the way unless you specifically call on her or something relevant to the plot happens. The ending where she finally found "happiness" for her robotic little heart got me misty. Her crazy dancing is entertaining, too.
Disadvantages: Though out of the way most of the time, when she's in the way, it's rather agressively. Her analyses seem to go on forever and they're very often of things I know or have a good guess at already (she's Captain Obvious, bless her analytic little robo-heart). I like her singing, but she looks really creepy when doing it - that smooth shiny face and pupiless eyes makes her "song face" a bit uncomfortable for me.
As for others, Ezlo, Ceila, Linebeck, they're from games I haven't played.
Give your own opinions. Analyze the partners like Fi, encourage their advantages like Navi and snark at their disadvantages in a way that would make Midna proud!
Starting from the top:
Navi
Advantages: Identification of enemies and their weak spots (I found this very useful), ability to clue you in as to where to go next should you lose your way (no doubt useful for young/inexperienced players), and I thought the part in the end where she decided to stand by you no matter what when facing Ganondorf made her cool (character-wise).
Disadvantages: "Hey! Listen! Watch Out!" and "Dagnabbit you freakin' fairy, I KNOW I should go back to Kakariko/Death Mountain/up the river-wherever! I'm trying to find heart-pieces/rupees/am having fun riding Epona right now, leave me alone and SHUT UP already!"
Tatl
Advantages: Less annoying prompts than Navi (the bicycle bell sound), entertaining snarky attitude, an actual character-motivation of her own (wanting her brother and friend back).
Disadvantages: The prompts are still kind of annoying, less helpful than Navi in identification of ememies and weaknesses (she does it, but sometimes leaves you with a blank, i.e. "This is a disgusting toad. I hate it").
The King of Red Lions
Advantages: He doubles as your transportation! He also has a mystic air about him and made the game feel like "sailing the seas with Sean Connery." He also has a tragic bent at the end that I just loved, storywise - He gave his life to save the future and to mark the passing of eras. Aw.
Disadvantages: He doesn't follow you into battle so he doesn't give you intel for that, sometimes he talks to me when I'm trying to climb aboard him, which is annoying.
Midna
Advantages: She's Midna - 'nuff said! Okay so she's hands-down my favorite of Link's partners. Why? Not only is she entertaingly snarktastic, she is actually a well-developed character in her own right with her own mysterious and tragic backstory that's unviled as you play the game. Of all the partners, I think she might potentially be the most frustrating the work with if you had to deal with her in real life, because of her initial rudeness, but for the fictional world of Hyrule and gameplay, her abundance of "character" makes her awesome. She has a lot of character-growth, going from rude little imp with possibly dark motives to someone who begins to care about you and who you (or I, at least) grow to care about.
Disadvantages: That laugh is sometimes grating. She doesn't have the enemy/weakness identification system at all - she advances the plot and helps you get places, but she doesn't help you much with intel on enemies.
Fi
Advantages: An enemy identification system that is like Navi's and Tatl's and then-some. She even tells you what your battle-rating is against particular species. She has an indentification system for characters/NPCs that I enjoy (hey, I'm a fanfiction writer, I like all this canon character/species info stuff)! Like Midna, she generally stays out of the way unless you specifically call on her or something relevant to the plot happens. The ending where she finally found "happiness" for her robotic little heart got me misty. Her crazy dancing is entertaining, too.
Disadvantages: Though out of the way most of the time, when she's in the way, it's rather agressively. Her analyses seem to go on forever and they're very often of things I know or have a good guess at already (she's Captain Obvious, bless her analytic little robo-heart). I like her singing, but she looks really creepy when doing it - that smooth shiny face and pupiless eyes makes her "song face" a bit uncomfortable for me.
As for others, Ezlo, Ceila, Linebeck, they're from games I haven't played.
Give your own opinions. Analyze the partners like Fi, encourage their advantages like Navi and snark at their disadvantages in a way that would make Midna proud!
Yeah, though, despite not being particularly useful in terms of identifying enemies, Midna is the best of Link's companions, and my favorite video game character (no kiddin'). She's one of the relatively few Zelda characters with a genuine arc, provides a level of expressiveness that's about on par with most recent animated films, and has an endearing personality that comes across even when she's toying with the young protagonist. On top of that, she's pretty heavily involved when it comes to combat and transportation.
The fact that Linebeck can overcome his greed in order to assist you is a testament to his strength as a character. Nintendo should start leaning away from pure helpers more often.