While reading manga a character stole a power from another guy and said:
ちょっとこいつの力を試してみたくてな。
I wonder what's the use of the て-form in みたい?. What would be the difference with こいつの力を試してみたいな
It's an example of te-form for reason, but the subsequent part ("I'm doing this" or "I stole this power") is omitted because it can be inferred from the context. In short, this te-form means "because".
- 試す: to try it
- 試してみる: to try it and see what happens (みる is a subsidiary verb explained here)
- 試してみたい: to want to try it and see what happens
- 試してみたくて: cuz I wanna try it and see what happens
