Needing the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:16
Acts 1:4-8

Can anyone be a really good Christian without the Holy Spirit? I grew up and continue to live in a charismatic environment, where the role of the Holy Spirit in our Christian walk is emphasized. But even if you never pray in tongues, never hear a prophesy, never attend a charismatic prayer meeting, can you continue to live the Christian life day in and day out without the aid of the promised Helper? I've come across people who think "charismatic" and by extension the Holy Spirit are centered around a bunch of externals: praying in tongues, prophesy, praying out loud, and the like. But much, much more important to me is the internal influence of the Holy Spirit. Christianity is dead if we're not growing in the love, joy, peace, etc. described as fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22-23. If we are to be witnesses to the world we need the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be transformed by God to become like our Father and I don't know any way that can happen without the aid of the Holy Spirit, day in and day out, actively working in our lives.