I would not enjoy the system nearly as much without the gamepad. I noticed a few saying the opposite, that's fine but I gotta say, you are missing out on the opportunities of the gamepad.
First there is off screen play. Fricken amazing. In the middle of a game and someone wants to watch TV, no problem, switch it to the gamepad and continue gaming. Plus it has decent range for many houses as long as there isn't too much interference. I can get it about 35-40 feet away from the console, to the opposite side of the apartment and it works great. Recent updates seem to have increased the effective range and this is also with lots of interference since it is an apartment building.
There are also some neat uses, admittedly not enough for my liking, in games with the gamepad. Some of the best being in Nintendo Land. It has some great games with 5 people. Simple and very enjoyable.
The multiplayer aspect of it is great. Games that utilize it like Hyrule Warriors and some of the Lego games, among others give two screens, one for each player instead of having split screen. Great for in house gaming.
To me, the strengths certainly outweigh the weaknesses of it.
Gotta figure out how to set these up lol.
