If there was ever a time for the developers to finally show what the three-fingered, spacefaring species looked like from the shoulders up, the Extended Cut was it. A debate could be held on whether the individual player's mental image of Tali is any more right than that of BioWare, but an official reveal was without a doubt the top priority for many players.

The reaction from fans was to come up with versions of Tali that better fit the spirit of the Mass Effect universe themselves, creating truly breathtaking fan art not motivated by a need to quell debate or put a nice end to a romantic cut-scene. At the time though, it's hard to think there wasn't as much frustrated laughter as actual disappointment. Conveniently kept out of frame or sight except to Commander Shepard, players around the world had their hopes raised, only to be dashed. In fact, the developers have come up with more than a few ways to play on audience hopes of seeing the Quarian unmasked, most notably when Tali's mask was removed in a romantic scene of Mass Effect 2. While those attacks may have been justified given the high level of work put into other characters' appearances, no actual facial modeling, or in-game reveal is not necessarily a sign of laziness. Fans of Tali and all Quarians called the developers 'lazy' for merely photoshopping a stock image to appear more in keeping with an alien physiology. It's hard to disagree with the coy approach taken by BioWare, since the studio came under fire when they actually did show Tali's face in a photograph acquired if she became a love interest of the player's. However, the reveal they conjured up shows that they still aren't showing as much of the Quarians as fans would likely hope. Not the least of which was the fact that she'd done all the maturing behind an opaque face mask.Īs had the entire race of Quarians, and with Mass Effect 3's Extended Cut DLC, BioWare decided to show that masks are a thing of the past. After three games of watching the young Quarian Tali'Zorah nar Rayya grow from an adolescent trying to prove herself into a full-fledged Admiral of the Migrant Fleet, mysteries still remained at the close of Mass Effect 3. A face by any other name would apparently not look as sweet, not when it comes to Mass Effect.

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