Poll: Would you have preferred this as the face of Tali

[Dondonalien44]

Beautiful work. She actually looks alien.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

To me, that's the real sticking point about that picture, it looks far too similar to humans, with even the Asari (without question the most humanlike race before this reveal) look far more alien than Tali's picture did, which makes it all the more surprising that nobody in-game mentions the similarity, with the Quarians and Asari being the two most likely candidates for a double-take reaction.

I always thought the Asari looked different depending on who was looking at them. A background conversation in Mass Effect 2 seems to hint at this at any rate. I might be wrong.

Actually, the fun thing about that conversation is that while the speakers do suggest that as an explanation, the conversation itself implies they simply focused on different aspects of the Asari. The human focused on general body shape, the turian noted the head-fringe, the salarian commented on skin-tone.

Ahh I see, I simply interpreted it wrong then. Considering the way Asari tend to mate with other races, I suppose it would make sense that their looks would appeal to everyone on some level.

Back to the subject of Tali...

Spoiler: Information regarding the DLC character Javik

Javik (the DLC character) comments on the beauty of the Quarians and says that it is such a shame they have to hide behind masks now. What you said before about the in-game photo looking too similar to Humans/Asari also applies here. If the Quarians were so beautiful then surely Javik would be the first to say, "Hey, you humans look very similar!" But he doesn't, he still considers humans to be very primitive and doesn't really have much more than contempt for their race.

 

[War Penguin]

Nah, man. Sorry, but I don't like the face. However, I don't think I'll like any face for Tali. Not everyone will. It's one of those situations where you can't please everyone.

Quite honestly, I think the best route[footnote]and quite honestly, the easiest. Let's face it, it'd be quicker than five minutes in photoshop. [/footnote] would be to not show the face. It's like a good monster movie:[footnote]Yeah, I know, this is a weird simile, but bear with me on this![/footnote] What makes the monster so scary? After all, you don't actually see the monster.[footnote]Or, at least, that's what it's supposed to be like. That was rule number one in the guide to good monster movies, but filmmakers are always breaking it nowadays.[/footnote] You're only given the most vague description, whether it's just a hand, the eyes, a faint glimpse of the shape, or even just showing nothing and just telling you a brief description. With only just a small amount of information, your mind can put together something horrifying. How? Well, your mind most certainly knows what you're afraid of, so it instantly creates something it know you find scary. That's why you find the monster scary. However, in this case at least, this doesn't have to apply to fear.

Let's look at Tali, and what little features were shown in the previous two games. We got her her body shape, which is fairly human-like.[footnote]with the exception of her legs and the fact that she's missing a finger or four.[/footnote] We also have a vague outline of her face, her nose, and her eyes. With what little information you have, your mind can create something that you find attractive. Just those features alone. That's why so many people fell in love with Tali: They had their own personal image and were more connected with her. What they saw in Tali was something no one else did. That's what made the connection.

So the safest thing for Bioware to have done was to not show the face. Maybe show the face of another Quarian, giving more of an idea of what Tali would look like, but the information we got from earlier is enough. Of course, I'm still sort of wondering why they didn't go this route. It would be much easier and less expensive. Huh.

 

[Gatx]

I always thought she was going to be a lizard. I mean come on, the legs, coupled with the helmet shape.

Also there's the idea that since they made the Geth, they would've made the Geth in somewhat their own image, and they sort of look like geckos (compared to the mechs which look look more humanoid).

So total disappointment when they revealed what she looked like.

 

[wintercoat]

No. The top...flap...thing...is pointing up at the tip. that would mean that Quarians design their helmets to be horribly uncomfortable at best, painful at worst, on purpose. I have no problem with the overtly pretty design, but the whole...whatever the fuck those are...thing is ridiculous.

 

[Casual Shinji]

No face is going to be to everyone's liking, but atleast this one has real effort put into it, which is all I would've asked for.

As for the face itself, it looks very nice but maybe a bit too many bells and whistles at the back of her head. But it does look very alien-y and unique, which is more than I can say for Bioware's design.

 

[evilneko]

See, Quarian helmets (and thus heads) are kinda narrow compared to human heads and helmets, so I always figured Tali should have a narrow head.

Like a salarian.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Nope, the image the OP put up looks nothing like what I thought Tali would look like.

Say what you will, I like what BioWare did, and they did come extremely close if not on the mark to what I thought Tali looked like. And the whole "stock photo" uproar, I find to be quite silly.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

No, I thing under her mask should have been an identical mask. And that is extremely un-attractive to me.

Randomly pause the video at some point and make your choice.


I got...Shepard? Well, isn't that just dand-OH SHIT! THAT'S A TIME PARADO-

WOULD YOU LIKE TO REBOOT THE UNIVERSE?

>YES

NO

I got Thomas the Tank Engine. I stuck my wee wee in a child's cartoon character.

 

[burningdragoon]

I thought the direction they decided to go in was fine though a bit too close to regular human. However, the choice in picture and photoshop quality were pretty terrible.

 

[Tumedus]

At least the artist put effort into it.

The biggest issue I have with it is the ears. It is explicity stated in the codex that the ear analogues are not humanlike.

 

[saluraropicrusa]

While that image is very well done, I just can't see it being Tali. As far as her face goes I much, much prefer this image. There's another one that I like quite a lot (where she has sort of Turian-like mandibles that mimic her mask), but it's NSFW, so I won't post it here (besides if you don't have a deviantArt account you likely can't view it).

 

[Zen Toombs]

But now I am starting to dislike the picture I presented because Tali should remain faceless XD

It would have been best if Bioware showed us what generic quarian 7, 45 and 93 looked like (through a codex entry, for example) but left Tali herself masked.

 

[Uszi]

Question: Am I the only one who ignored the framed picture and just kept picturing Quarians the way I thought they should look anyway?

The picture made me laugh and then I was like, "Yeah, I don't buy it."

 

[Dreadman75]

Hmmm...I dunno. I always kinda pictured the Quarians as more...fragile looking. This picture, by all means awesome, looks more like some kind of badass alien huntress. It just doesn't seem to fit IMO.

Really great picture though! My compliments to the artist!

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

I just wanted something they put work into, I'd be happy with something like the picture listed.

 

[Gerishnakov]

TBH I'm not unhappy with what's in ME3. Yes, not a great deal of effort went into it, but in the grand scheme of things I don't really mind. It looks alright, alien enough, and besides Quarians couldn't be too alien, because Tali and Shepherd get pretty physical. It's not like the FemShep/Garrus romance, which for me seems not to be sexually physical.