Escapist Podcast: 036: Mass Effect 3 & Tali Stock Photos

[gyro2death]

Meh, it's just incredibly disappointing, to be honest.
....
Even this would've been marginally better, if still somewhat unoriginal to my tastes (would love to know who created this piece though, it's bloody well-done):

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/098/1/3/Tali_by_FruitLoop360.jpg

See the fact that some random fan took the time to render up a lovely in game styled art piece over a generic (and god awful photoshop, it looks worse than the original due to being a 10th the resolution.) is sad. It wouldn't have taken almost any time to properly make a picture if they didn't want to do an animation for it, and it would have taken even less to let it be a mystery like in ME2, but instead they half ass-ed it so hard that the backlash is this bad.

Also to every idiot saying this is such a small piece of the game, no its not shes a squad mate for all 3 games (a privilege only shared by Garrus and Tali), and is a romantic interest as well, she's definitely one of the most flushed out characters so skimping so badly on this is really inexcusable, if they wanted to take a creative stand and say "no, you can't see" like in ME2 fine, but this is just bad, no way around it.

 

[Aity]

Hey everyone, I really wanted to listen to the podcast in its entirety, but I couldn't for fear of spoilers or hints about ME3 being revealed. But what I did hear was funny, ya'll are really hitting your stride in my opinion.

Btw, I found something so awesomely awesome that I just had to share it with you guys and get your response on it. I won't tell you what it is, but I'll tell you this, talk to the VI and ask her about the promotion. It's more of an easter egg, in my opinion, but badassfully awesome in its presentation.

Take care all and keep up the good work.

 

[Kahunaburger]

The Tali's face thing isn't a reason to hate on Bioware, it's mostly just hilarious. I can't think of a more effective way to troll Talimancers than to say: "oh, your space waifu's face? We slapped it together in 30 minutes of photoshop. We got space explosions to recolor."

 

[burningdragoon]

The "using a stock photo" part of Tali's face reveal doesn't bother me at all. The direction they decided to take it was also satisfying enough, though I wish it was a little bit less like just a painted normal person. I think the choice of picture and photoshop job was pretty terrible though. Especially for her hands, which look like/are literally cropped off ring and pinky fingers. Of course there's also the pretty obvious issues of who took the picture (less weird), how'd she get her entire suit off and not get super sick (more weird).

 

[Hyper-space]

snip

Well, in-game there was no hype over what Tali's face looked like, it was mostly just Talifans that went ape-shit over her meekish and non-threatening personality. I did all of her loyalty missions and shit, never once cared about how her face looked like.

Also, I remember that Bioware also used stock-photos for Neverwinter Night's character portraits, so who really cares?

 

[superbowlbound]

snip

Well, in-game there was no hype over what Tali's face looked like, it was mostly just Talifans that went ape-shit over her meekish and non-threatening personality. I did all of her loyalty missions and shit, never once cared about how her face looked like.

Also, I remember that Bioware also used stock-photos for Neverwinter Night's character portraits, so who really cares?

Fans of the series and characters? I didn't romance her or care too much about her. In fact, I really didn't like the Quarians. But regardless it was incredibly lazy of them, and citing Neverwinter Nights, a game made 10 years ago, as support for your argument is pretty weak.

 

[luckshot]

You have got to be kidding me? A reveal that people have been waiting 6 years for is done by 10 minutes in photoshop (seriously, for a person mildly skilled that's all it takes) is okay? Especially because the Quarians are described differently. It's such a pathetic lazy cop-out, for a AAA game with a multi-million dollar budget? I would understand if its XBLA or a small studio, but this is something that is incredibly hyped and anticipated! I honestly can't believe you are defending this! Wouldn't it have been better to not ever show their faces? No one would have complained then. Or how about they use one of the ridiculous amount of concept faces they created? But no, that takes time to render faces, so instead we will focus on making every character you make eye contact with a romance option. I am not sure how much EA is paying you guys, but can you stop white knighting for Bioware and EA, they are just money grabbing companies that unfortunately no longer care about their fans.

tali's stock photo opens up too many plot holes and why not use a stock photo of the voice actress, why not edit out the extra knuckles on the hand, why not just do some artwork

didnt like the end and it seemed to make the entire series pointless

edit: if i forgot this was a cheap photoshop of a stock photo, why does she have extra knuckles, why is the image quality so poor, all the plot holes

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

To point out a small thing that it seems no one else cares about...

I'd prefer MMOs to be less specialized because I hate forced multiplayer. And having role specific classes pretty much requires that you will have to group to play the game. Because a person who is completely a healer will not be able to do anything by themselves.

That being said, I don't play MMOs. Because I hate forced grouping. So I guess my opinion on the matter holds no weight.

Totally off-topic, but Guild Wars 2 has no dedicated healers, tanks, or damage dealers. Every class can perform every role. Also, you never need to group up unless you want to do dungeons or world bosses, and you can get dungeon-equivalent gear just from buying or crafting it.

 

[Draconalis]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may every well be, because I haven't played mass effect... but isn't Tali apart of that species that dies when their mask gets removed?

And if this is true... how is she not dying when the mask is removed?

 

[Magical Crab]

AAA title with an extended development period.
They are totally allowed to cut corners. It's okay.
And the guy who found out about the cutting of said corners is obviously a troll.
Bioware are glorious developers.

Blockbuster scheduled for summer release.
Using public domain sound effects? Are you kidding me?
The director must've been lazy.
Absolutely unforgivable. Urgh.

 

[purifico]

I have to ask now - what do you do in the office if not play games? Doing your job requires some gameplaying, so why not do it at work? At least partially. Do you spend all time at work writing articles or making videos? In fact it would be interesting to find out more about the things you actually do as a game journalist. How long does it take to compile a video review of a game, for example?

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may every well be, because I haven't played mass effect... but isn't Tali apart of that species that dies when their mask gets removed?

And if this is true... how is she not dying when the mask is removed?

Lots and lots of plot armour, my friend.

 

[bdcjacko]

Long time listener, 8th time complainer. I usually download the podcat from iTunes so I can listen to it at work the following Monday. The past couple of times the podcat starts somewhere in the middle after downloading. I don't always notice right away because of how you guys do you sound check just talking about whatever (which I love). But I was more complaining about the technical problem of it not starting at the beginning and wondering if there is something wrong on my end, your end, or is it Apple?

Has anyone else had this problem, if not most likely it is my end and I will just have to make sure I have it at the beginning when I start listening.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may every well be, because I haven't played mass effect... but isn't Tali apart of that species that dies when their mask gets removed?

And if this is true... how is she not dying when the mask is removed?

It's rather spoilery story...

In Mass Effect 3, she gets the opportunity to return to her home world where, with the help of the Geth, the Quarians are beginning to be able to live without their suits. It'll take years for them to be able to go completely suitless, but for now, taking off the face mask won't kill her.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I have to ask now - what do you do in the office if not play games? Doing your job requires some gameplaying, so why not do it at work? At least partially. Do you spend all time at work writing articles or making videos? In fact it would be interesting to find out more about the things you actually do as a game journalist. How long does it take to compile a video review of a game, for example?

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may every well be, because I haven't played mass effect... but isn't Tali apart of that species that dies when their mask gets removed?

And if this is true... how is she not dying when the mask is removed?

Lots and lots of plot armour, my friend.

Short, not very helpful answer: We run a magazine.

Longer, hopefully more helpful answer: We have a small staff for the amount of content we produce, which is why we can't spare time during the day to play games. Just using myself as an example, I commission and edit all of the feature articles that appear on the site (which was previously one person's entire job), manage the news team, write scripts, articles, and reviews, produce two video series, edit columns, record the podcast, sit in on managerial meetings, and interact with you guys. I'm probably leaving some stuff out, too.

As for how long it takes to do a video review, not counting the actual playing of the game (which can be anywhere from 6-30 hours, depending), it takes about an hour to capture the footage, perhaps as much as an hour to write and record the voice over, then writing the review can take anywhere from a half hour to four hours, assuming you don't have any interruptions. (And there are always interruptions.) Again, that's all just speaking for me personally. Sometimes reviews come in an instant, other times it's really tough to verbalize what I want to say. After the review is written, it goes through two rounds of peer review, at which time any necessary tweaks are made. (If we haven't explained something adequately, for example, or if the reader feels like the words don't match the given score.)

 

[TastyCarcass]

So the person who discovered the fact that Tali was a stock photo was "a troll or something"

Just because he noticed something.



Keep classy Escapist

 

[Slycne]

Long time listener, 8th time complainer. I usually download the podcat from iTunes so I can listen to it at work the following Monday. The past couple of times the podcat starts somewhere in the middle after downloading. I don't always notice right away because of how you guys do you sound check just talking about whatever (which I love). But I was more complaining about the technical problem of it not starting at the beginning and wondering if there is something wrong on my end, your end, or is it Apple?

Has anyone else had this problem, if not most likely it is my end and I will just have to make sure I have it at the beginning when I start listening.

Hmmm. Well I downloaded the latest episode from iTunes and didn't notice any problems. So not sure what's up with that.

 

[bdcjacko]

Long time listener, 8th time complainer. I usually download the podcat from iTunes so I can listen to it at work the following Monday. The past couple of times the podcat starts somewhere in the middle after downloading. I don't always notice right away because of how you guys do you sound check just talking about whatever (which I love). But I was more complaining about the technical problem of it not starting at the beginning and wondering if there is something wrong on my end, your end, or is it Apple?

Has anyone else had this problem, if not most likely it is my end and I will just have to make sure I have it at the beginning when I start listening.

Hmmm. Well I downloaded the latest episode from iTunes and didn't notice any problems. So not sure what's up with that.

Could very well be me

 

[Draconalis]

It's rather spoilery story...

In Mass Effect 3, she gets the opportunity to return to her home world where, with the help of the Geth, the Quarians are beginning to be able to live without their suits. It'll take years for them to be able to go completely suitless, but for now, taking off the face mask won't kill her.

But didn't the mask get taken off in Mass Effect 2? Did this process actually start in 2 or what?

 

[Slycne]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may every well be, because I haven't played mass effect... but isn't Tali apart of that species that dies when their mask gets removed?

And if this is true... how is she not dying when the mask is removed?

The lore isn't instant death per say. The quarians are supposed to have really weak immune systems from growing up on a planet with relatively few pathogens. So taking off their masks or having their suits rupture is dangerous, but in general enough antibiotics and other medicines will keep them from dying.

Spoiler

I hadn't reached a certain portion in the game yet when I made the comments about where the photo could have been taken.

 

[Susan Arendt]

It's rather spoilery story...

In Mass Effect 3, she gets the opportunity to return to her home world where, with the help of the Geth, the Quarians are beginning to be able to live without their suits. It'll take years for them to be able to go completely suitless, but for now, taking off the face mask won't kill her.

But didn't the mask get taken off in Mass Effect 2? Did this process actually start in 2 or what?

If you romanced her, yes, but not otherwise. Also, her taking offer her mask in 3 is not necessarily connected to romance.