Skip to main content

Mass Effect Legendary Edition changes Tali's controversial cabin photo

Take stock.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition changes one of the longest-standing issues with the franchise: Tali's face.

THERE MAY BE MASS EFFECT SPOILERS AHEAD.

Eurogamer news cast: Microsoft's plan to kill console scalpingWatch on YouTube

Original party member Tali'Zorah is a quarian whose face has been one of the most popular online discussion topics about Mass Effect. Throughout the series, her face is concealed due to her having to wear a suit that protects her from disease.

Tali's face was eventually shown at the end of Mass Effect 3 to those who romanced the character via a picture in Shepard's cabin. Her design was based on the Photoshop of a human stock photo model - something which angered some of the character's fans.

Tali's face in the original Mass Effect 3.

Now, nine years after Mass Effect 3 came out, BioWare has replaced that Photoshop with a new, unique face of the developer's creation.

Redditor Maxgoods uploaded an image of this new face to the Mass Effect sub:

Image credit Maxgoods on reddit.

Maxgoods even made a video showing off the new face:

Watch on YouTube

This was subsequently confirmed by Mass Effect modder Orikon (of Priority: Earth Overhaul fame):

Tali still has a human-looking face (except for the all white eyes), which I reckon will disappoint some who had hoped for a more alien look. Tali is an alien, after all! But it's certainly an improvement on the stock photo model that's in the original Mass Effect 3.

If you're wondering how players are reaching the end of Mass Effect 3 so quickly, Maxgoods downloaded a Mass Effect 3 savegame with the Tali romance completed, pasted into the right folder on PC (MyDocuments\BioWare\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Save\ME3), then loaded the last savegame.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is only a day old, but players are already finding subtle changes BioWare hadn't announced pre-release. It will be fun to find out what else has been tweaked over the coming weeks.

Read this next