At the moment I'm quite busy with playing Hyrule Warriors: Legends on my New 3DS, but now and then I'm also returning to Hyrule Warriors on my Wii U, mainly to play with the new characters in full HD glory. While going back and forth between both games, I actually feel like they did a pretty good job with the 3DS version. The graphics are a mess, but it runs pretty well on a New 3DS and I enjoy playing the new version quite a lot.
On the Wii U you only get another set of DLC characters, which don't have any missions. Like with Twili Midna, Young Link and Tingle you only can level them up, which gives them all their Heart Containers. Their better weapons are already unlocked and you just find them at random. For me personally this is ideal, though. On the Wii U I can get a better look at the new characters, while I fight my way through Adventure Mode on the 3DS again. If the Wii U would have gotten new Adventure Maps as well, it would be too much for me. But I can relate to those, who only have the Wii U version and would like to get more than just new standalone characters and weapons. In the very least they could have also added the new scenarios for Legend Mode.
Anyway, lets talk about the new additions a little bit to see, whether the Legends Characters Pack would be worth it on its own or not. Keep in mind that I'm not a big expert on Musou combat, where I could score a perfect analysis on what combos are best for juggling and weak point gauges...
Linkle
She's pretty amazing. I like her character, since she's a lot of fun, and her weapon is awesome. A very good addition to the fire elements, where she delivers some good crowd clearing moves in combination with directional distance attacks. I especially like her C3, where she whirls around in flames and her C6, which is quite similar to the C5 of Link's sword movesets, only even more powerful. And it has this nice green glow effect as a reference to the auto fire in Link's Crossbow Training, as well as chargeable Bomb Arrows.
The actual crossbow from the spin-off game is even her tier 2 weapon. And with the uncharged C1 / Strong Attack she hums the "Get Item" melody and puts her hoodie on or off. It's similar to Zant in a way, only that the change stays around.
There's also a bar, which gets filled automatically with attacks, and you can use this for another auto fire mode with your Strong Attack, where it switches to a over the shoulder perspective and keeps juggling enemies in rapid fire. It's a lot of fun to use and quite powerful, because it can easily juggle and break many stronger enemies at once. Probably my favorite new moveset.
Skull Kid
He's spot on! In all the ways I imagined Skull Kid for Hyrule Warriors, Koei Tecmo again pulled it off and exceeded my expectations. Even the fire beam of Majora's Mask is in there, which works very similar to Volga's C3. But I like, how they gave them the Ocarina as his weapon type. We already got some musical instruments as weapons and there certainly will be more in the future, especially with characters from Majora's Mask, so it's good that this one is quite different and you don't just have another character playing the Song of Storms again. I enjoy the sound effects for Skull Kid's normal attack string, where he basically keeps playing the same hollow notes, like he did in the intro of Majora's Mask, just in a more rapid fashion. He even does mimic his "musical performance" from the intro in his winning sequence at the end of a battle.
In addition they also added the horn and the puppets from Twilight Princess, where it would be nice to have a Twilight Princess costume for him at some point. But he's really a machine of fan service references and that's what we all want from this game. They nailed it. The only disappointment is the moon, where he only uses a tiny one, but they already had overused moon attacks with other characters. It would be more awesome, if he actually had the Special of the Great Fairy for example.
And his combos seem a little uninspired for the most part. They have the puppets and the laser beam, but the rest is pretty much just dark magic attacks. I like the combo, where you can steer some bubble bursts of dark energy around you, but its damage seems very weak. I tend to overuse the laser beam and I haven't fully figured out the character yet, but he's certainly a good addition.
Of course it would have been more awesome, if he actually was part of the Majora's Mask DLC back then. Tingle would have been a better fit now with all the Wind Waker content. But it doesn't make much of a difference, really, because both characters are fully independent in the Wii U version.
Toon Link
It's another Link, yay... I'm not complaining much, because now we actually got all Zelda characters from Super Smash Bros. (both fighters and Assist Trophies) playable in Hyrule Warriors! It wouldn't be a real all-stars game, if it didn't have all the stars. And while I suggested in the past to have a separate Toon Hyrule Warriors, I can also see the appeal of everything coming together in one game. Technically they could even keep both styles and their characters separate in the story and then just mix everything for fun in Adventure Mode.
Toon Link really looks out of place in the Wii U game though, like a clay figurine wandering around. They went with the bloom shading visuals of The Wind Waker HD, which is responsible for the "clay" effect, but that's better than putting a cel shaded comic look in there. However, if we also had the new settings in HD, he would look great.
His moveset isn't really too much exciting, after Young Link blew everyone away with his godlike Fierce Deity mode. It's a pretty basic moveset, where the main difference over Link's sword is that Toon Link likes to jump a lot, as if he's using either Roc's Feather or Roc's Cape. But his Strong Attack is already a Down Thrust and many of his combos go aerial and then end in a Down Thrust as well. His last combo is the Great Spin Attack, where the sword even gets charged in the same electrifying style and he gets dizzy at the end. But this is, where the references end. The other main reference is Aryll doing all the talking, which is nice, but Ciela would have been okay, too.
I'm not a fan of his weapon tiers though. Benjamin Fowler already pointed out in the comments that it's odd that he has the Mirror Shield next to the Lokomo Sword, instead of the blue wooden shield from Spirit Tracks. The latter would have fit much better, because the other tiers use the same shield in the designs of The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. So, why not do the same for Spirit Tracks and instead use a shield, which isn't even part of the game? It's odd and I personally would have preferred the Mirror Shield as a meaningful part in a moveset, where it's used for certain attacks, not just as an accessory.
The Phantom Sword is also debatable, if it in itself wouldn't have potential for its own weapon type, where you can freeze time. I personally think that "time" will be a 6th weapon element in Hyrule Warriors 2, which freezes enemies around you. And the Phantom Sword could be a perfect weapon for this element type. But in any case Toon Link certainly has a lot of weapon potential left, he's even getting another one in the DLC. But for the future I would love to see the Four Sword as a weapon type for Toon Link, which certainly would be a lot more interesting.
Tetra
She's probably the most disappointing addition and continues the trend of under-performing water weapon types. I do like, how she shoots bullets of water, even as part of her normal attack string, but none of her combos strike me as all that useful. She gets the job done, but she doesn't seem to have any outstanding moves. Her Strong Attack is especially bad.
And since she has a similar statue to Toon Link and the cutlass works a lot like the sword, I sometimes even confuse her with Toon Link and wonder, why the Great Spin Attack's not working... Yeah.
Also, she's making really weird and annoying voices for some reason. Most of the time they have very good portrayals of all the characters, but those squeaking sounds of Tetra (and Twili Midna) are not really on point...
King Daphnes
He's not as glorious as King Harkinian and his Dinner Cup, but he'll do and he certainly got all the laughing right. The laugh alone makes him entertaining to play.
I guess, it's one of the better water movesets (which isn't saying much), I especially like the long range of the normal attack string, it reminds me of Twili Midna's Mirror. But the combo attacks are not as crazy and overuse the boat transformation a lot (which makes him invulnerable). I fear, it would be the same, if they add Linebeck, if he doesn't already ride his boat all the time like a horse...
His Strong Attack is interesting, because it basically lets you enter "Hasty Attacks" mode for a while. I wonder, if actually having Hasty Attacks makes it all even faster... The bar depletes very slowly, so you can stay in fast mode for about 30 seconds. Though it's pretty much a necessity, similar to Cia's darkness boost, where you have to keep using C1 over and over for more damage.
Now, the Swift Sail from The Wind Waker HD as the 2nd tier is certainly a nice reference and whenever he enters Focus Spirit, it looks like he's putting a golden Kinstone together, which would be an awesome reference to King Daltus from The Minish Cap. (There is even stuff from the Oracle games in Hyrule Warriors Legends, because they used the Magic Seeds as fairy food. So, there seems to be hope!)
Trident
Last but not least, Ganondorf got his first additional weapon and it's a good one. This is a great example, how a character can benefit from alternative weapons. His swords were not bad, they offered a hack'n'slash feel next to some very large area attacks. The Trident is more in the middle of all that, offering more speed and aggression. It also feels somewhat safer, since Ganondorf was quite vulnerable during many of his sword combos, but I don't have enough experience with this new weapon yet to judge...
The weapon has many nice nods to classic Ganon fights. The Strong Attack lets you throw the trident ahead of you and then teleport to it. The C4 even whirls the trident around you, which is awesome for crowd control. And of course there are energy balls and lightning bolts. The only thing missing are (Fire) Keese...
I just wish that the Wii U version also would have gotten the Wind Waker costume for Ganondorf. There's no such thing as too many costumes.
On the Wii U you only get another set of DLC characters, which don't have any missions. Like with Twili Midna, Young Link and Tingle you only can level them up, which gives them all their Heart Containers. Their better weapons are already unlocked and you just find them at random. For me personally this is ideal, though. On the Wii U I can get a better look at the new characters, while I fight my way through Adventure Mode on the 3DS again. If the Wii U would have gotten new Adventure Maps as well, it would be too much for me. But I can relate to those, who only have the Wii U version and would like to get more than just new standalone characters and weapons. In the very least they could have also added the new scenarios for Legend Mode.
Anyway, lets talk about the new additions a little bit to see, whether the Legends Characters Pack would be worth it on its own or not. Keep in mind that I'm not a big expert on Musou combat, where I could score a perfect analysis on what combos are best for juggling and weak point gauges...
Linkle
She's pretty amazing. I like her character, since she's a lot of fun, and her weapon is awesome. A very good addition to the fire elements, where she delivers some good crowd clearing moves in combination with directional distance attacks. I especially like her C3, where she whirls around in flames and her C6, which is quite similar to the C5 of Link's sword movesets, only even more powerful. And it has this nice green glow effect as a reference to the auto fire in Link's Crossbow Training, as well as chargeable Bomb Arrows.
The actual crossbow from the spin-off game is even her tier 2 weapon. And with the uncharged C1 / Strong Attack she hums the "Get Item" melody and puts her hoodie on or off. It's similar to Zant in a way, only that the change stays around.
There's also a bar, which gets filled automatically with attacks, and you can use this for another auto fire mode with your Strong Attack, where it switches to a over the shoulder perspective and keeps juggling enemies in rapid fire. It's a lot of fun to use and quite powerful, because it can easily juggle and break many stronger enemies at once. Probably my favorite new moveset.
Skull Kid
He's spot on! In all the ways I imagined Skull Kid for Hyrule Warriors, Koei Tecmo again pulled it off and exceeded my expectations. Even the fire beam of Majora's Mask is in there, which works very similar to Volga's C3. But I like, how they gave them the Ocarina as his weapon type. We already got some musical instruments as weapons and there certainly will be more in the future, especially with characters from Majora's Mask, so it's good that this one is quite different and you don't just have another character playing the Song of Storms again. I enjoy the sound effects for Skull Kid's normal attack string, where he basically keeps playing the same hollow notes, like he did in the intro of Majora's Mask, just in a more rapid fashion. He even does mimic his "musical performance" from the intro in his winning sequence at the end of a battle.
In addition they also added the horn and the puppets from Twilight Princess, where it would be nice to have a Twilight Princess costume for him at some point. But he's really a machine of fan service references and that's what we all want from this game. They nailed it. The only disappointment is the moon, where he only uses a tiny one, but they already had overused moon attacks with other characters. It would be more awesome, if he actually had the Special of the Great Fairy for example.
And his combos seem a little uninspired for the most part. They have the puppets and the laser beam, but the rest is pretty much just dark magic attacks. I like the combo, where you can steer some bubble bursts of dark energy around you, but its damage seems very weak. I tend to overuse the laser beam and I haven't fully figured out the character yet, but he's certainly a good addition.
Of course it would have been more awesome, if he actually was part of the Majora's Mask DLC back then. Tingle would have been a better fit now with all the Wind Waker content. But it doesn't make much of a difference, really, because both characters are fully independent in the Wii U version.
Toon Link
It's another Link, yay... I'm not complaining much, because now we actually got all Zelda characters from Super Smash Bros. (both fighters and Assist Trophies) playable in Hyrule Warriors! It wouldn't be a real all-stars game, if it didn't have all the stars. And while I suggested in the past to have a separate Toon Hyrule Warriors, I can also see the appeal of everything coming together in one game. Technically they could even keep both styles and their characters separate in the story and then just mix everything for fun in Adventure Mode.
Toon Link really looks out of place in the Wii U game though, like a clay figurine wandering around. They went with the bloom shading visuals of The Wind Waker HD, which is responsible for the "clay" effect, but that's better than putting a cel shaded comic look in there. However, if we also had the new settings in HD, he would look great.
His moveset isn't really too much exciting, after Young Link blew everyone away with his godlike Fierce Deity mode. It's a pretty basic moveset, where the main difference over Link's sword is that Toon Link likes to jump a lot, as if he's using either Roc's Feather or Roc's Cape. But his Strong Attack is already a Down Thrust and many of his combos go aerial and then end in a Down Thrust as well. His last combo is the Great Spin Attack, where the sword even gets charged in the same electrifying style and he gets dizzy at the end. But this is, where the references end. The other main reference is Aryll doing all the talking, which is nice, but Ciela would have been okay, too.
I'm not a fan of his weapon tiers though. Benjamin Fowler already pointed out in the comments that it's odd that he has the Mirror Shield next to the Lokomo Sword, instead of the blue wooden shield from Spirit Tracks. The latter would have fit much better, because the other tiers use the same shield in the designs of The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. So, why not do the same for Spirit Tracks and instead use a shield, which isn't even part of the game? It's odd and I personally would have preferred the Mirror Shield as a meaningful part in a moveset, where it's used for certain attacks, not just as an accessory.
The Phantom Sword is also debatable, if it in itself wouldn't have potential for its own weapon type, where you can freeze time. I personally think that "time" will be a 6th weapon element in Hyrule Warriors 2, which freezes enemies around you. And the Phantom Sword could be a perfect weapon for this element type. But in any case Toon Link certainly has a lot of weapon potential left, he's even getting another one in the DLC. But for the future I would love to see the Four Sword as a weapon type for Toon Link, which certainly would be a lot more interesting.
Tetra
She's probably the most disappointing addition and continues the trend of under-performing water weapon types. I do like, how she shoots bullets of water, even as part of her normal attack string, but none of her combos strike me as all that useful. She gets the job done, but she doesn't seem to have any outstanding moves. Her Strong Attack is especially bad.
And since she has a similar statue to Toon Link and the cutlass works a lot like the sword, I sometimes even confuse her with Toon Link and wonder, why the Great Spin Attack's not working... Yeah.
Also, she's making really weird and annoying voices for some reason. Most of the time they have very good portrayals of all the characters, but those squeaking sounds of Tetra (and Twili Midna) are not really on point...
King Daphnes
He's not as glorious as King Harkinian and his Dinner Cup, but he'll do and he certainly got all the laughing right. The laugh alone makes him entertaining to play.
I guess, it's one of the better water movesets (which isn't saying much), I especially like the long range of the normal attack string, it reminds me of Twili Midna's Mirror. But the combo attacks are not as crazy and overuse the boat transformation a lot (which makes him invulnerable). I fear, it would be the same, if they add Linebeck, if he doesn't already ride his boat all the time like a horse...
His Strong Attack is interesting, because it basically lets you enter "Hasty Attacks" mode for a while. I wonder, if actually having Hasty Attacks makes it all even faster... The bar depletes very slowly, so you can stay in fast mode for about 30 seconds. Though it's pretty much a necessity, similar to Cia's darkness boost, where you have to keep using C1 over and over for more damage.
Now, the Swift Sail from The Wind Waker HD as the 2nd tier is certainly a nice reference and whenever he enters Focus Spirit, it looks like he's putting a golden Kinstone together, which would be an awesome reference to King Daltus from The Minish Cap. (There is even stuff from the Oracle games in Hyrule Warriors Legends, because they used the Magic Seeds as fairy food. So, there seems to be hope!)
Trident
Last but not least, Ganondorf got his first additional weapon and it's a good one. This is a great example, how a character can benefit from alternative weapons. His swords were not bad, they offered a hack'n'slash feel next to some very large area attacks. The Trident is more in the middle of all that, offering more speed and aggression. It also feels somewhat safer, since Ganondorf was quite vulnerable during many of his sword combos, but I don't have enough experience with this new weapon yet to judge...
The weapon has many nice nods to classic Ganon fights. The Strong Attack lets you throw the trident ahead of you and then teleport to it. The C4 even whirls the trident around you, which is awesome for crowd control. And of course there are energy balls and lightning bolts. The only thing missing are (Fire) Keese...
I just wish that the Wii U version also would have gotten the Wind Waker costume for Ganondorf. There's no such thing as too many costumes.
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