Topic: When a Game Offers You an Optional Companion...

...Do you find yourself taking advantage of it? For some reason, I never seem to want to use characters like Cha Cha in Monster Hunter Tri. I also tend to avoid calling extra Kirby characters in The Amazing Mirror. I guess I just feel like I'm taking the easy way out when I do something like that. Does anyone else feel the same?

Depends on the game.

I don't run into that many optional companions, so...yeah, I dunno. But i do just use Cha Cha as a distraction for the monsters. If he weren't there then I could do without.

Yes, even if it doesn't make sense.

I always like bringing in the Kirbys just because its cool to see NPCs that are actually friendly.

I don't think I ever use companions. Fallout 3 and Skyrim are two recent games that come to mind where you have a pretty good selection of optional companions. I leave them all at base. I'm either gonna save the world all by myself or not at all.

Pretty much this. I generally don't use the helpers in Kirby Super Star (Ultra) because they tend to just get in my way and I find I work better alone. In Monster Hunter Freedom Unite however, even though they occasionally blow me up, they're still an invaluable help so I take advantage of their help.

Yeah, helpers are pretty much useless except when playing multiplayer.

I usually do, though; in Dragon Quest IX you're pretty much forced to. In Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, I usually leave them. So yeah, what Tony said.