ME3: How to Preserve Tali's Mystique When the Mask is Off

[Satin6T]

I think they should do whatever makes the Talimancers the most unhappy.

talimancers - so much worse than necromancers

 

[boag]

Kill her.

Shock value, yes, but let me explain.

You know how some people say, "it's not the destination, it's the journey"? Well it's basically the reverse of that. If people see Tali's face during some dramatic moment that has no finality, then it was just a superficial reveal. All the intrigue that gets built up inevitably has to be discharged in one big, orgasmic reveal that leaves the player both satisfied and full in the knowledge that nothing that special is going to happen again. It's like Chekhov's gun, but there's only one round and you absolutely have to hit the fucking target. If you show her face arbitrarily, it was all for nothing. Right at the end is far too cliched and touchy-feely when ME is supposed to be this big, dramatic space opera where Earth already got fucked.



Imagine it: Pitched battle on the Quarian homeworld against a vicious reaper adversary that is attempting to subvert the geth to its side. Health bar goes from 1% to 0 and the post-boss cutscene ensues. Clearly, Shepard and company have prevailed, but what's this? The reaper lives! In a fit of mechanized anguish, it lashes out with its talons, smashing stone and scraping metal as its last bits of fury burn out. Shepard and Legion open fire, silencing the massive creature once and for all. But as the last of the raucous tremors die down, they hear a scream from one of the terminals a floor above. Shepard makes for the ladder and Legion scales the wall directly. When Shepard finally ascends, s/he sees something heartbreaking. Tali is on the floor, pinned beneath the spindly appendage of the reaper.

As Shepard runs toward her, s/he sees how bad it really is. Legion's tending to her, but the massive spike in her stomach and the blue stains beneath her make it clear she's got minutes at best. With pained gasps, she tells Legion that she was able to beat the reaper; the Geth will not be indoctrinated by the reapers. In mere seconds, Legion declares a unilateral consensus being reached: when the war is concluded, the Geth will send an envoy to the flotilla offering the planet back to the Quarians.

Shepard approaches, kneeling before the dying Quarian. Tali reaches out to Shepard with one hand, her other struggling to break the lock on her faceplate, finally succeeding as she hears the snap of the contacts and the hiss of the suit depressurizing. She grips the mask and tosses it away.

Face is absolutely stunning and the vocal filter is gone. In the throes of death, she says she's glad to have died on her homeworld, but in clear emotional agony says she will miss Shepard. And before she parts, Tali asks Shepard what s/he thinks of her face beneath the mask.

"You're beautiful, Tali."

She smiles, little blood trail comes from the edge of her mouth, Keelah se'lai and she's dead.

To make certain no one can stick around and look at the real time textures, the cutscene advances forward.

Big fuckin' tragic moment. Finality's where it needs to be. Discuss. I'm going to bed.

Envirosuit full of sentient mechanical spiders is still my best choice to keep the mistique.

 

[Freechoice]

This sounds suspiciously like fanfic...

Oh God, it IS fanfic! You just dressed it up as a question tot he community! BACK! BACK I SAY! Return from the slimy dark pits from whence you spawned!

Sir, I challenge you to a duel to the death for having accused me of such dishonor.

Seriously though, I just thought this up in a conversation with a friend o' mine and we were discussing ME3. I thought "this would be the most believable/credible way to kill off the annoying fan girl personification without pissing off the people that AREN'T fans."

snip

Escapist, how I love thee. The predictable pedantism and omnipresent pseudo-intellectualism that always comes off as dickishness. Like a fucking swiss watch.

1. No.

2. You set the scene and contrive a reason. Of course it sounds shitty on paper. You contextualize it or put it into play and it comes off much better.

3. She's making a personal address to Legion, the kind where it's supposed to be an extremely significant victory for both her and the Geth as a whole for an aforementioned reason. I know Legion doesn't speak for the collective Geth, but you know what's cool about him (and fuck it, it's a him)? He has an IRC with every other Geth and can query them at FTL. This falls back on the contrivance because Keelah knows Bioware is okay with those, I may as well layer on another.
Council doesn't believe you in ME1? Ok, racist assholes. Council still doesn't believe you in ME2 even after beating Saren and/or installing the human council? Bullshit. Basically everyone that wasn't on the Normandy or isn't Martin Sheen doesn't believe you about the Reapers even after killing one and having real fucking evidence about it? Fuck it.

4. It's funny how you mention cliches because Bioware seems to be a big fan of those [http://rampantgames.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/bwcliches.png] in addition to the contrived BS to drive the plot. Besides, you add enough emotion to anything and you can basically have a touching scene i.e., The Hurt Locker. Realism? Believability? Common sense? Fuck it all. When in doubt, melodrama.

Envirosuit full of sentient mechanical spiders is still my best choice to keep the mistique.

Or this.

 

[DirgeNovak]

That would basically be copying the Darth Vader death scene with a hot chick instead of an ugly asshole.

So no.

My guess is if they do show Tali's face, it will be when the Quarians find a new homeworld, or learn to share Rannoch with the geth with Legion's help or something.

 

[Valanthe]

I don't think you quite understand what chekhovs gun is. Chekhovs gun is when a detail from earlier in the story that at the time was so insignificant that it was barely noticable turns out to be extremely important later in the story.

This, if they brought back the trinket you get from the Consort, and it turned out to be some game changing plot point, that'd be a case of Chekhov's Gun.

 

[westcoast1313]

I don't think you quite understand what chekhovs gun is. Chekhovs gun is when a detail from earlier in the story that at the time was so insignificant that it was barely noticable turns out to be extremely important later in the story.

This, if they brought back the trinket you get from the Consort, and it turned out to be some game changing plot point, that'd be a case of Chekhov's Gun.

Well its already been used in Mass Effect 1 when you visit Eletania, and you find a glowing globe thingy and it has a small hole where it fits perfectly, and then bam flashback! You see the memories of a cro magnon, confirming that pretty much that the facility on Mars was a Prothean research station for the study of early humans.

 

[Valanthe]

I don't think you quite understand what chekhovs gun is. Chekhovs gun is when a detail from earlier in the story that at the time was so insignificant that it was barely noticable turns out to be extremely important later in the story.

This, if they brought back the trinket you get from the Consort, and it turned out to be some game changing plot point, that'd be a case of Chekhov's Gun.

Well its already been used in Mass Effect 1 when you visit Eletania, and you find a glowing globe thingy and it has a small hole where it fits perfectly, and then bam flashback! You see the memories of a cro magnon, confirming that pretty much that the facility on Mars was a Prothean research station for the study of early humans.

That's true, but that's what I mean, It's such a weird bit of the plot, the token comes from a sidequest, and the flashback is pretty easy to miss if you're not looking for it. so it really has no bearing on anything relevant. So if it did come back and was suddenly important, that'd be pretty big.

 

[Tony2077]

i went through hell in mass effect 2 to keep my crew alive I'll do it again so don't screw with me

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Easiest solution: show another quarian's face (probably a dead one), but don't show Tali's. Now we know what quarians look like, but people can still imagine Tali's face looking like whatever they want, for the most part.

Some people will still be unhappy that their skin is periwinkle rather than lavender, but you can't please everyone.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Or you know keep with the established canon of the game somewhat unlike Bioware in ME 2 and have her keep her suit fully on so her immune systemless body doesn't catch the common cold or whatever happens to be floating around and die.

That said I'd rather see her look disgusting or something after making he a romance option in ME 2 and have to make a scumbag Bioware meme or something.

 

[Erttheking]

I don't know, True Art is Angsty has always been one of my pet peeves, you don't always have to make something sad to tell a good story. "I killed this character, that makes me deep" is something that really bugs me with modern media, you can't just throw random darts at a board then off people without any previous planning. It's a cool idea though I'll give you that, but I'd rather have something a bit happier.

 

[Zydrate]

I don't care if she looks normal as hell. I want to see it.

 

[1nfinite_Cros5]

I'd actually prefer to keep her face masked.

BUT. Hear me out.

I think people who pursue a romance with her deserve SOMETHING. That something is, while not removing the mask at all, give them an idea of what she, and other quarians, look like. This:

Easiest solution: show another quarian's face (probably a dead one), but don't show Tali's. Now we know what quarians look like, but people can still imagine Tali's face looking like whatever they want, for the most part.

Sounds pretty good, but what I had in mind was showing a young, unmasked Tali in an old picture, posing with her family or something. You just stumble across it and only look at it briefly before moving on. It'll unveil what they look like WHILE still keeping the intrigue and speculation in the air.

Best possible way, in my opinion.

 

[Arina Love]

Why? Why there has to be tragedy and death? Death is just easy and lazy way to crate drama and provoke emotion. If you want to get depressed fine, i do not. There is nothing wrong and there will be nothing lost if they reveal Tali's face.

 

[Freechoice]

Why? Why there has to be tragedy and death? Death is just easy and lazy way to crate drama and provoke emotion. If you want to get depressed fine, i do not. There is nothing wrong and there will be nothing lost if they reveal Tali's face.

Because the Reapers invaded Earth and killed a child in the demo. Clearly, death is on the table for Bioware. Besides, I wouldn't get depressed over Tali dying in dramatic fashion after having fought to preserve everything she knows and holds dear. If anything, I'd feel renewed in my vindication to stop the galactic menace over the loss of a beloved crew member whom I had come to know through trial, tribulation and thousands of hyperkinetic slugs.

Off-topic: Your post reminded me of an episode of State of the Game. Good stuff.

i went through hell in mass effect 2 to keep my crew alive I'll do it again so don't screw with me

Or what? You'll come at me, bro?

Over what? A video game?

I played on insanity the first time around and the only reason I lost anyone was because of the retarded karma system that didn't let me succeed as a neutral Shepard. Paragon or renegade? CHOOSE ************. Oh right, you can't because that's one freedom we don't allow you in this massive space opera.

But I suppose I must acquiesce to your demand. You did go through hell after all.

 

[Arina Love]

Why? Why there has to be tragedy and death? Death is just easy and lazy way to crate drama and provoke emotion. If you want to get depressed fine, i do not. There is nothing wrong and there will be nothing lost if they reveal Tali's face.

Because the Reapers invaded Earth and killed a child in the demo. Clearly, death is on the table for Bioware. Besides, I wouldn't get depressed over Tali dying in dramatic fashion after having fought to preserve everything she knows and holds dear. If anything, I'd feel renewed in my vindication to stop the galactic menace over the loss of a beloved crew member whom I had come to know through trial, tribulation and thousands of hyperkinetic slugs.

Off-topic: Your post reminded me of an episode of State of the Game. Good stuff.

i went through hell in mass effect 2 to keep my crew alive I'll do it again so don't screw with me

Or what? You'll come at me, bro?

Over what? A video game?

I played on insanity the first time around and the only reason I lost anyone was because of the retarded karma system that didn't let me succeed as a neutral Shepard. Paragon or renegade? CHOOSE ************. Oh right, you can't because that's one freedom we don't allow you in this massive space opera.

But I suppose I must acquiesce to your demand. You did go through hell after all.

Well i still disagree with any of my mates dying mandatory deaths without choice. Reason i liked ME2 very much is ability to bring everyone back safe and sound. i want just that in ME3 a choices, if you play cards right everyone will be fine if not people will die.