Friendly looks a little different than I pictured.
This companion is super useful. She has good range and she can do a lot of damage. You will want to finish her quest "the golden gun" as soon as it's available because when she has the golden gun she will do a lot more damage and she gets double-tap which makes her shoot again if she defeats an enemy. So a good trick that I've learned is that if there is a bad guy with just a little health left you will want Anne to hit them because after defeating them she will take an extra turn! Another awesome move for her is "burst fire" which will sometimes trigger her to attack several times in a row.
Once you collect a few companions pay close attention to the companion management screen. It helps you change the order of companions so you get a better chance the ones you put first in the list will join you. Ones with an X through them are defeated and have to be revived by going to a life fountain or using a potion.
As far as companions I like... Bonnie Anne is THE BEST! I like Old Scratch too because he can cast his own minion and can hit multiple targets. It does seem like more bad guys can dodge magic now which is pretty annoying :( I'm still experimenting with the position of my other companions to see which are really better.
Anne always takes the first spot in my companion roster. Besides... she has a fun voice.
Fighting Gortez... If you see this guy and you're by yourself then you're probably in big trouble. Gortez can be defeated only if you turn all the mirrors to point at the central stand. Then you have to defeat Gortez and only Gortez or his minions that you kill will multiply! It's not like there aren't already a million of them.
Another important thing for new Pirates is to learn to explore options for second-school powers. You will get training points from time to time and you'll want to visit all the teachers and carefully pick what secondary skills you learn.
Then there is this guy who sometimes hangs out in the palace or tavern. He will sell you companion training points. These training points can help you finish leveling a companion. But they cost gold so watch what you spend on companions versus on your ship because you will have to have a decent ship as well.
As you train your companions they will gain a chance to learn new powers. Chose the powers wisely. If you pick well your companion can really make a big difference in battle. Most of the skills will make your companion able to get in a first hit, hit back after being hit or taking on a protective nature. If you plan things out you might be able to build a team that really gets going when things get tough.
When you're sailing around the spiral don't forget that when you need to go back to Skull Island you can push the button on the far left of your screen and pop right back to home base.
Now this instance has a tricky spot. your arrow will direct you in all kinds of strange ways but you get up on to the ship (where your battle awaits) by running up the mast pole that's lying there in the mud.
Last but not least. This tip is mostly for noobs when you're wondering where your ship is and you can't seem to find it on the dock. This happens some times during landfall where your ship gets bottled by accident. I haven't figured out how that happens sometimes and not others. I think it has something to do with how full the realm is. Anyway, unbottle your ship again and voila! It will replace another standard on the dock and you can hop right in. At the very least your quest tracker will finally show you which dock your ship is on.
