BioWare Still Unsure About Tali Reveal

[Andy Chalk]

BioWare Still Unsure About Tali Reveal

BioWare is apparently still wrestling with the single biggest question of the Mass Effect franchise: what does Tali actually look like?

Same-sex relationships notwithstanding, Tali'Zorah is probably the most interesting romance option BioWare has ever come up with. She lives in a hermetically-sealed suit, complete with opaque helmet, and nobody knows what she looks like, presumably not even Shepard when he invited her up to his groovy bachelor pad in space to do the horizontal mambo. He clearly wasn't grossed out when she finally lifted the lid, but what he actually saw remains a mystery, even, it would seem, for the good folks who actually made the game.

"We changed Tali - that was tough because people were very passionate about her. A lot of people want to have her face revealed and obviously people are going to be pissed off either way," Kotaku [http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-3-Collectors-Pc/dp/B0050SZES0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1309789152&sr=8-3]).

"Like, 'I thought she was going to look beautiful!' or 'I thought she was going to be the most hideous thing ever!' So we've had a lot of debate over Tali's face, but that's the one we kind of dread a lot," he continued. "We're always, 'Well, let's talk about something else for a while!' That's something we're going to have to decide."

It's quite possible that Hudson is just dangling the long-awaited Tali reveal to make the fanboys dance, but I don't find it all that terribly hard to believe that BioWare is having a hard time figuring out how to handle the situation. She's clearly an alien, but she's also very much a "fan favorite," if you know what I mean. I think it'd be hilarious if she turned out to be a cross between a Predator and Dr. Zoidberg but realistically, I just don't see it happening. My advice to BioWare? Keep the helmet on and the mystery intact.


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[Still Life]

I personally don't want to see Tali's face revealed. I think there's something said about leaving it to the imagination, and players have really taken on the character and have no doubt personalised and idealised her. You also can't please everyone

Besides, to my Shep, Tali is like a little sister.

 

[dstreet121]

She's probably going to look like Kit Fisto I bet, the Quarians always struck me as an aquatic species for some reason.

 

[LiquidGrape]

I always thought the Tali romance was an exercise in uncouth and problematic hero worship.

And partly because of this, I say BioWare should reveal her face, as it would eliminate what is unwittingly a ridiculous idealisation of the faceless female form. Not to mention the fact that Shepard has been allowed to see her face.
So yes, I think it should be revealed. Assuming her face won't be the purple space elf most fan renditions seem to boil down to, of course. If they actually rendered her something truly alien, I would be very impressed.

 

[TJ rock 101]

They could just show us what Quarians in general look like, without showing Tali's face. So then we would at least have an idea of what she is like.

 

[Kapol]

She's probably going to look like Kit Fisto I bet, the Quarians always struck me as an aquatic species for some reason.

It's likely the tint of their visor. Judging by their planet though, I'd say they likely weren't aquatic. It could have been because of the whole sun thing, but it seemed like it was a fairly dry place to start with.

OT: If they don't, there will be a lot of angry people. I kinda hope they do, but I really don't mind either way. It's just the way they handled it in two that made me rage. Apparently game-me gets to see her face, but not player-me. That makes so much sense... it was the biggest cock-tease I've ever seen.

I always thought the Tali romance was an exercise in uncouth and problematic hero worship.

And partly because of this, I say BioWare should reveal her face, as it would eliminate the faceless fawning element.
Assuming her face won't be the purple space elf most fan renditions seem to boil down to, of course. If they actually rendered her something truly alien, I would be very impressed.

Eh, I doubt she'd be something truly alien. Pretty much any aliens you have with you end up looking like slightly odd humanoids anyways, or at least those you can romance.

I'm still waiting for my hanar teammate and romance to happen! Come on Bioware, make it happen! Floating jellyfish for the win! /joke

 

[Lizardon]

Bioware can't win. They show her face, people won't be happy with what it looks like. If they keep the mystery, people won't be happy that they never get to see what she looks like.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

-snippetty snip-
"We changed Tali - that was tough because people were very passionate about her. A lot of people want to have her face revealed and obviously people are going to be pissed off either way"

This is so sad (and ABSOLUTELY 110% true), that I legitimately feel sorry for Bioware.

It's also a bit Ironic, that the developers of more Morally ambiguous, "no-right-answer" moral decisions, than any other dev house........is now trapped in a morally ambiguous, "no-right-answer" decision.

And as a fan of Irony, this makes me chuckle. Good luck Bioware XD

 

[Brian Hendershot]

Just show us a Quarian face Bioware. Any face will do. The only reason I romanced her in the first place was so I could see her face...(and because Miranda, and Jack are massive BIOTCHS. And I don't know how I feel about bumping...fingers...minds..or whatever with an Asari.)

 

[Casual Shinji]

There's an easy solution; Don't reveal her face.

Just give certain hints about how the Quarians in general look without a full face reveal. Show Quarian hieroglyphs or something that'll give the player a broad idea of what their faces more or less look like, and have our imagination fill in the blanks.

 

[teebeeohh]

She's probably going to look like Kit Fisto I bet, the Quarians always struck me as an aquatic species for some reason.

It's likely the tint of their visor. Judging by their planet though, I'd say they likely weren't aquatic. It could have been because of the whole sun thing, but it seemed like it was a fairly dry place to start with.

OT: If they don't, there will be a lot of angry people. I kinda hope they do, but I really don't mind either way. It's just the way they handled it in two that made me rage. Apparently game-me gets to see her face, but not player-me. That makes so much sense... it was the biggest cock-tease I've ever seen.

that was not the quarian home world, just a colony.

i hope for a reveal, because everything will go done in history as a vitory for the talimancers.

 

[Jumplion]

Honestly, it would have been very interesting if they had kept Tali's romance strictly platonic. Sort of like "the girl you love but you will never have" kind of thing, where you could stay dedicated to her despite it being a non-sexual relationship or find others due to your needs. That is actually a moral choice, you numbnuts, so long as you don't slap on a pointless "paragon/renegade" option!

Then maybe at the end, have an easter egg where the do the tango or whatever, still keeping it a mystery what she looks like.

 

[Head Chef Dom]

I don't blame Bioware. I'm not sure if I'd like to see Talis face revealed or not. On one hand it'll be nice to finally see if Quarians look just like humans or are they something really alien. But on the other hand it's good to keep some mystery to one of my favourite characters

 

[-Dragmire-]

I agree. Keep it secret, keep it safe.

I like this fan art though...

tough call

 

[Archemetis]

I want her to look like James Earl Jones.

Stupid aside... I don't really want them to reveal her face, I really like Tali as a character (enough to want to name my first dog Tali Zorah Vas whatever I call my house/apartment)
And part of her intrigue comes from the enigma that is living under that hood and mask.

Although If I had to speculate, I'd say it won't be far off humanoid. If you look at Tali as she exists right now you can always make out a glowy-eyed humanoid face behind the mask.

So really, it's not going to be revolting any time soon.

 

[Luke5515]

The best analogy I can make is Double D from Ed Edd and Eddy.
Something was up under that hat, and no one ever knew. It would have killed it if they showed what it was.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Meh, I don't really think they should show her face, but I'd still want to see it if they decided to. I kind of like that your relationship is based mostly on her personality (which I personally find freakin' adorable), and nothing with what she looks like underneath her visor. But supposedly a piece of fan made art was run by a few people from Bioware, and they said it was actually pretty close to how they all imagined her.

Spoiler: The fan art - also it's a big image

 

[Zhukov]

Keep her face unseen. Because, well... you know that feeling of discomfort you get when you see the movie version of a book you loved? How the actor's faces often seem "off" because they inevitably clash with your imagination? Yeah. That's what would happen if they showed her face. I guarantee that people would not like it.

As has been suggested by others, they could aim for the middle ground by revealing some other Quarian faces. Maybe Kal-Reegor and Admiral Xan.

 

[Gitty101]

It's a lose lose situation when it comes to revealing Tali's face. Either way, a group of people is going to be annoyed. To be honest, I'd rather they just keep it a mystery, at least then my expectations won't be underwhelmed.

 

[Kapol]

She's probably going to look like Kit Fisto I bet, the Quarians always struck me as an aquatic species for some reason.

It's likely the tint of their visor. Judging by their planet though, I'd say they likely weren't aquatic. It could have been because of the whole sun thing, but it seemed like it was a fairly dry place to start with.

OT: If they don't, there will be a lot of angry people. I kinda hope they do, but I really don't mind either way. It's just the way they handled it in two that made me rage. Apparently game-me gets to see her face, but not player-me. That makes so much sense... it was the biggest cock-tease I've ever seen.

that was not the quarian home world, just a colony.

i hope for a reveal, because everything will go done in history as a vitory for the talimancers.

Ah, right. I forgot. Haven't played it in a long time. Though the ME Wiki says that the planet is actually more arid then Earth, so they'd likely not be aquatic. I suppose it could work though if the majority of the planet was dry land, but they lived mostly in the water, in a backwards version of what we do with our planet (lotsa water which takes up 70% of it's surface). But then again, I also doubt they'd colonize a world if they weren't adapted to live on it like that. I suppose they could be able to survive in both enviroments, but it seems doubtful in the end that they were mainly aquatic. /nerd rant