Though this has not hampered her ability to attract fans. Tali'Zorah on the other hand is a rare NPC version of this phenomena, one enhanced by the prospects of the player pursuing a romantic relationship with her (in the second game), one thanks to her suit, based solely on her personality. A famous example of the latter is Halo's Master Chief, who's own face-obscuring helmet and terse conversational style helped many gamers achieve greater immersion in their experience and rose up Master Chief to the highest tier of gaming's great player characters. As gaming evolved, protagonists were kept silent and/or faceless for storytelling reasons instead. Not being able to see a character's face is not a new development in video games, restricted in the early days of gaming by technological limitations, protagonists were often simply known by a name and identified by an icon. She's, pardon the pun, humanized," states Liana Kerzner, gaming culture writer and director of video for, "She's the awesome female geek we don't get on the Big Bang Theory." Her impressive technical skills and slightly shy but strong-willed personality also carry her through that adventure and the next, not only as one of the franchise's key secondary characters, but a fan favorite as well. Once saved and recruited to the Commander's mission she quickly proves herself as a support character in combat.
When Commander Shepard, the player character, meets the masked and bio-suited Tali'Zorah early in the first game she finds herself betrayed and on the run while on her coming-of-age journey. This has forced the Quarians to wear face-obscuring bio-hazard suits their whole lives as even the mildest infection could have fatal consequences. Compounding their ill-fortune is a naturally weak immune system hampered further by centuries of living aboard sterile starships. Since then they have wandered the galaxy in a massive fleet of starships, trapped by their endless debate on whether or not they should find a new world to settle on, risk everything to try to drive their enemies from their homeworld, or endlessly wander the stars in penance for unleashing a persistent and dangerous threat to the galaxy. Tali'Zorah is a Quarian, a nomadic alien race who fled their homeworld long ago after the artificially intelligent machine race they created, the Geth, rebelled against them. We're always "well, let's talk about something else for a while!" That's something we're going to have to decide. We've had a lot of debate over Tali's face, but that's the one we kind of dread a lot. They are not alone, as was disclosed by Mass Effect 3 executive producer Casey Hudson and art director Derek Watts to the site :
On a smaller scale there is large subset of Mass Effect fans that are fascinated with the answer to one peculiar mystery within the game: the yet-to be reveled face of fan-favorite character Tali'Zorah. Anticipation continues to build for Mass Effect 3, the climax to the Mass Effect trilogy, gamers worldwide are speculating wildly with the limited information revealed around E3 2011 about the plot and how their gameplay decisions will impact the fate of the galaxy.