Tali'Zorah, Peak Long Term Story Telling - Mass Effect Analysis

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]When I first played through the Mass Effect series, I was like every other generic Gary out there and romance Leara, and Tally was someone who didn't really get brought along on too many missions. As I returned to the series in a proper fashion with the release of the Legendary Edition, I was like a kid learning that you can put ketchup and mustard on a hot dog. I took Tally and Garris along for every mission and found an appreciation for the character that I hadn't had before. And now, 3 years after my last playthrough of the game, I'm back to see if she really was as good as I remember. Welcome back everyone to another Mass Effect analysis video. As voted on by the Democratic Convention of YouTube, Tally received the most votes, and as such, today we'll be covering her entire story and romance across the trilogy with a writing focus.

[00:00:50]seeing how Boware chose to structure her story, how they chose to grow her or regress her as a character, and generally the tools that they used to weave in a great story. Without further ado, I implore you to get yourself four Doritos Locos Tacos and a Crunch Wrap Supreme. And don't forget the orange Fanta because this one will be a long one. Following our Tyrion friend getting shot by this guy named Sarin, who we suspect has gone rogue, we're tasked with finding any information we can to put him to justice. We first hear that Aquarian has some information about Sarin and a link to him and the GU. True to its genre of a sci-fi game, I had no idea what Aquarian was, but seeing Tally, her design just screams sci-fi with this spaceacuit that she looks to be wearing. As it turns out, Tally does have some crucial information on Sarin that could mean consequences. Firstly, it's not just a great plot point to have Tally have this information, but also the way in which she obtains it, her techsavviness. Having this companion start out being an important portion of the main story is always a good sign for the remainder of the character's writing. Her knowledge of the GU is also a great addition as the GU in Mass Effect 1 are the main cannon fodder and force under Sarin. Tally feels already like an extremely important and very useful ally to our squad because of this. The conversation that follows introduces us to the Reapers, of which Tally is a useful expositor of the plot.

[00:02:24]Again, this scene is very wellcrafted and is our catalyst propelling us into the game second act. Tally helping piece together the knowledge of Reapers from GU culture, heralding the Reapers as gods, also fits very well. Of course, she'd know this, and it makes sense for her to be so involved here in informing the party of all of this. Something we'll have to be careful of, however, is overusing Tally as an expositor of too much plot. We don't want to just learn about the plot, but we want to learn about her. So, hopefully we get some of that soon. Tally is then offered a spot on our squad by Udina. And Shepherd can ask her if she's able to abandon her pilgrimage, which is this cool right of passage done by all Cororeans involving them leaving this giant ship flotillaa that they call home in order to bring something of use back to the flotilla.

[00:03:11]And Tali says something very great here.

[00:03:13]She says that the whole point of the pilgrimage is to give themselves to the greater good. So if she turns her back on Sarin and the GU, what does that say about her? Oh, that's fantastic. That wraps up her intro. And as far as this goes, Boware has done some great work already. Early on, we see Tally as someone that's perhaps a little bit naive and foolish enough to land herself in a spot where she thought she was meeting the Shadowb Broker. She shows cunning in action, however, when she tosses an explosive in an attempt to free herself. She shows her vast knowledge of Gath culture, proving very useful to the main conflict of this game. And lastly, and I'd argue the most important thing, we find out what kind of person Tally is in her heart with that lovely line of what does that say about her if she abandons this entire plot? She sees this cause as noble and bigger than her people's tradition. She is able to see that helping save the galaxy from a possible GU incursion would be the biggest thing she can give her people and the galaxy. But of course, it's also the right thing to do.

[00:04:15]Well done, Boware. I oftentimes quote that the best way to have your audience learn about your characters is having those characters make decisions. By Tally choosing this over her pilgrimage, it's very clear that we know Tally is of a noble persuasion. When Tally is aboard the Normandy, we get to have a very in-depth conversation with her regarding mainly Quorean culture. Something I'll note with Tally in this game is that as far as squadmates go, she is cool from a design perspective, of course, but her people's history and conflict with the GU is both a massively overarching issue across the trilogy, but also one that isn't so black and white, not so evil versus good or right versus wrong. And that always makes things more interesting when a moral dilemma is placed within a conflict. Tally comes off extremely nerdy and smart, sharing her enthusiasm for the Normandy, and explains that compared to her own people's flotilla, which is made of bits and pieces from secondhand equipment, the Normandy is the fanciest one she's ever been on. She'll then talk about Quorean government and culture, explaining that it's part communist, part space pirateing, minus the pirateing, part democratic, while with each ship having a say on matters within their own ship that is then led by a civilian-elected council and then hire an admirality board that is comprised of five members that have this unique ability to overrule the decision by the civilian board, but only once. Because once they all agree to veto, they all must resign from their posts. This is some really cool lore. She'll then explain the pilgrimage in more detail, highlighting that the right of passage is for the betterment of the flotillaa and that aquarian never returns until they have something of value to bring back to whichever ship they wish to join, at which time the captain of said ship usually accepts their gift and they become a part of the ship. Again, this is some very cool lore. But this last portion of Tally's dialogue is truly the best in this scene. She offers a little more insight into what the GU are, explaining that they get smarter the more of them there are before giving you a lore dump that the Quorans created the GU and then slowly pushed the borders of AI until one day a GU asked what its purpose was. And by that point, even though they tried, it was too late to stop the now sentient race. Huh. Sounds a lot like a time period that we're currently in. Anyway, we get a classic Mass Effect one moral debate here. One of my favorite things about this game when we can side with the GU by calling Tally out, telling her that the Quoreans created the GU, but wouldn't give them freedom and instead decided to try and commit genocide, which Shepherd feels is wrong. Tally feels the opposite, claiming that no, the GU aren't a sentient species and that they want to destroy all organics. Hence why they've paired up with Sarin, who despite being an organic, wants to bring back the reapers, who the GU revere as gods. She calls them the enemy. But Shepherd can point out that for 300 years, the GU have never left the veil, which they call home. If they really wanted to destroy all organics, you'd think they would have attacked at least once or twice. I love the fact that Tally is this important to Mass Effect 1's story and she easily feels like a character that despite the amount of dialogue in this section, a lot of it feels relevant. The problem is that we don't know too much about Tally herself and this opening move was a really big chunk of lore dumping. I am okay with this considering this is the first interaction on the ship. This sets up the biggest things in Tally's life for us and gives us the base to build from where hopefully we can get some more personalization from Tally. Our second conversation with Tally has her downtrodden, revealing that she is finding the silence on the ship hard for her, unable to sleep, as in her culture, silence usually means something is wrong. She also reveals that the ship's crew size is full, yet the ship itself feels so empty. This is because back home she usually worked on smaller ships with double the crew size. Finally, she admits that she is starting to see the point of the pilgrimage. That perhaps is to show Quoreans a different life, to perhaps show them what they'd leave behind if they never came back, which Tally reveals does happen to a few Quans. Okay, this is great, great, great stuff. This time, we still get some insight into Quarian culture, but Tally also relates how she is feeling. And I think we now get involved into one of her personal struggles. We know she's been on this pilgrimage for roughly a month now, and she's already explained to us what it is. But what Tally gives us here is how leaving her entire home and culture is impacting her. This is done in a very clever way by having her express an uncomfortableness in silence, which is obviously a bit odd since you typically want silence before you sleep.

[00:09:07]we get this cool anecdote from her explaining that silence to her means something is wrong because as we know their ships are made of secondhand parts. So there is this really good layering to the dialogue that we've received so far. To finish this exchange off perhaps having Tally so literally state how she's learning about the purpose behind the pilgrimage is a bit on the nose, but also it's not a huge crime. It's nice that we're seeing a bit of growth from Tally already and getting a very relatable feeling of homesickness from her considering we the player are also new to all of this. Well done so far, Boware. Our third conversation with Tally shows that she has cheered up but is getting antsy. She needs to find something to bring back for her pilgrimage. There is a lot expected of her. Why, you might ask? Oh, well, her dad is on the admirality board and so he's a very powerful guy. Looking ahead into the future, I will note how tight Tally's story is. Her father, a plot point later in Mass Effect 2, is set up here as an extremely noble Quaran, a leader of people responsible for the whole fleet. Excellent subversion of our expectations later on. But also something I very much like that Boware did with this game is how teenagerish they make Tally in Mass Effect 1. She is on her right of passage. And yes, she is probably a teenager in Quarryan years.

[00:10:30]But look at two things for a moment.

[00:10:33]First, the problems that she has are feelings of homesickness and living up to your parents' expectations. Those are typically young adult problems to be sure, but look at the clash that this second point comes in with. Tally is also very noble, heeding the call she hears to help the galaxy, and that shows maturity beyond her years. It doesn't mean it's easy for her, but she knows what she has to do, and I like this.

[00:10:59]That's a typical character arc in coming of age stories, but it's clear that with Tally, things will be a little bit different since she already has that nobility to her. How simple her structure is in regards to her story.

[00:11:10]But the blending of the conflicts that she feels contradicted by her maturity makes for some very interesting characterization and some drama. Our fourth conversation with Tally has her asking us if she can have some GU data that we retrieved from a little side quest. This conversation is actually missable if you don't do the GU incursion mission. If you do, she'll say that the data could be extremely useful for her people. If you hand it over, she'll be very thankful, but stay loyal by saying that until this mission is done, she won't leave your side. One thing I will say about this is that unlike Rex or Garris who hand you these quests, Tally doesn't hand you anything.

[00:11:49]You actually hear about this mission from Hacket and it's considered an alliance mission. Her quest sort of resolves pretty straightforward. I think what could have added to this scene is maybe making Shepherd go against Hackett's orders where Hackett might feel that this data is top secret and he mustn't share this with anyone and Shepherd can make the case for Tally and her race. instead. Like pretty much all of the personal quests in Mass Effect 1, that's it. With that, Tally's story is pretty much finished in Mass Effect 1.

[00:12:20]Overall, she really did fit the sci-fi blend of this game, and her cultural background was very cool. She comes off very genuine, and that little coming of age arc she has in this game is subtle, but well done. I think her also being so central to the GU, especially in this game where we fight them all the time, makes her a must-have for a lot of missions. However, admittedly, she is pretty bare bones as we didn't really get a chance to learn too much about Tali in this one. So far, her writing is okay. Let's move on to Mass Effect 2. In Mass Effect 2, I've already addressed how the game really explores some darker tones in the game. For Tally, this is also the case, as her story in this game really ramps up on a more personal level thanks to the loyalty missions. As we meet up with the elusive man, a man that is elusive, we can't help but wonder where all of our squadmates are. Well, Tally is the first squadmate we meet from the OG game. And that is a very cool honor to have. And she's got an updated design. Nice. When we enter into this abandoned colony, we see Quarans and our minds immediately think of Tali.

[00:13:27]These guys are initially standoffish, but then Tali emerges, stopping her party from starting a firefight. and she is surprised to see Shepherd alive and working for Cberus. She appears to be leading these troops and giving them orders. So, she's clearly matured. Tally wonders if we really are Commander Shepherd. And if you did her mission in Mass Effect 1, you can cite the data that you gave her and she'll stand down.

[00:13:51]The two parties then discuss why they're here and Tally reveals they're looking for a Quoran named Vtor who is on pilgrimage. It's a nice little call back to Mass Effect 1 and Tally's own pilgrimage here. drawing that line further that this version of Tali has passed her pilgrimage and is now running missions, commanding troops, and putting herself into dangerous situations once again. It's pretty cool. Everyone agrees they'll work together on this goal and you split up. It's pretty much straight to business here. And while personally, I would have preferred a bit of an extended discussion on the call back to the data or Tally expuning a bit on her stepping up in her leadership role, we can move on. Following this, we find Vtor who is delirious and hurt. We also find the Omni tool data and some contention follows with Miranda and Jacob wanting to send Vtor to Cberus for some questioning while Tali wants to take Vtor back home but is more than willing to give you his Omni tool data with all of his findings on it. A fair exchange. I would imagine that most players on a first run probably side with Tali here and that might be by design. We don't know either of these two Cberous knuckleheads, but we do know Tally. We can even ask Tally to join us right here. And true to her character, she'll state that she is on a mission so important that not even for Shepherd can she abandon it. Thankfully, we can also ask her about said mission, but she won't say much due to the knuckleheads being behind Shepherd. But she does reveal us in Gath space. I do kind of wonder if you're on that mission, why are you here helping some random guy named Vtor? Odd. With this, Tally takes Vtor back to the flotilla before embarking on her mission. And that is it for Tally for the time being in this game, which is an utter shame. It is widely known from YouTubers like Big Dan Gaming that Boware had a ton of voice lines for Tally and all the companions in the second batch of dossas. As originally, Boware was going to let you recruit whoever you wanted in any order.

[00:15:51]Unfortunately for Tally, she is relegated to the second batch of dossier. And so you'll have to power through roughly 9 to 12 hours of story before you get a chance to recruit her.

[00:16:02]In truth, you only get some additional lines from Tally. Of course, it's not like Boware cut chunks of her story, but we don't get as much time with Tally as opposed to someone like Garis, who is recruitable from the jump in all three games. With Tally, we get a dossier on her desk regarding her possible recruitment. As we find out, she's on a planet called Hastram within G space. A nice pickup from the last time we saw her as she no doubt is on the same secret mission she mentioned before and now we've got to go recruit her again. I have to ask why now is the time that the man who is elusive thinks we should be recruiting her. I mean Tali told us that after her mission maybe she joined. But what are we banking on with her this time? We already asked her once and as far as I know her mission hasn't changed. Is this a plot hole? No. But logically, it doesn't make a lot of sense. As a player, I would ask why we couldn't have just gone to help Tally initially with her mission since we're here anyway. But this is probably because of the cut content. So, I'll move on. So, we're off to Hastram and we find it swarming with GU, giving us those Mass Effect one vibes. Except this time, the GU are actually kind of hard.

[00:17:14]Not good vibes. We see a quarry and team get absolutely obliterated trying to protect a building and we are then tasked with getting into said building.

[00:17:22]Around the area, we hear these audio journals from Tali, who wishes Shepherd could be here to see the ancient Quorean ruins. Well, Shepherd is here, and when we encounter Tali's hologram inside, she's admittedly pretty surprised to see us. We don't have a lot of time to catch up with Tali, who is staying calm given the circumstances, as we work together to develop a plan to bust her and the rest of the Marines she's with out of here. We have a pretty cool fight with the GU before reaching Tali, who has just finished downloading this data as she states this whole mission has been a mess, but that she couldn't allow anyone else to go on something so risky. Again, that's pretty noble. We can ask Tally what she's after, and she'll explain the data is for exploring the nearby sun and how rapidly it's destabilizing. That shouldn't be happening, and the admirality board wanted to know why.

[00:18:10]Very sci-fi in its reason. And when we ask Tally if it was worth it, even pushing her to provide her own opinion, she'll suggest that the price they paid here was too damn high, considering her and maybe Cal Rigger survived while everyone else died. With this, Tally officially joins up with us. The debrief that follows is great again as Tali calls Shepherd out for his joining up with Cberus, an organization that not only was behind some diabolical things in Mass Effect 1 involving the Raknai, but also recently, mind you, had blown up a portion of the migrant fleet in an attempt in their chase for a human biotic. I am here for you, Shepherd.

[00:18:50]Nothing more. Is a strong line in the sand from her. She doesn't like Cberus, but you're her friend. She's helping you because you helped her. And I'm sure saving the galaxy is on her mind as well, given her stance regarding this in the first game. I also have to tip the hat to Boware for just making Jacob the ultimate wrestling heel by asking Tally to introduce herself to Edy, the AI on the Normandy. The look she gives Jacob, even though we can't see her face, we know what it looks like. I love it. In our first actual chat with Tally, she acknowledges that the two haven't really had the chance to catch up given all that they've been through. Tali reminisces on how she misses the old crew and faces, stating that it's odd and perhaps a bit scary that Cberus is here this time around. She warns Shepherd to be careful, sharing that Cberus has put hidden cameras and listening devices everywhere and going further sharing more details on why the Cororean people hate Cberus. A while back, they chased down this human biotic and recklessly blew up a ship in the process. Add to this that they have an anti-alien history and the encounters that you had with a Mass Effect 1, and Tally is pressing the commander on their alliance, and that makes sense. This first chat ends pretty quickly, however, which is a bit odd. We've already been through a lot in game and seen Tally twice, so I'd have expected the two to catch up a bit more on the happenings of Shepherd's mission. Perhaps having Shepherd explain how the elusive man set them up on the abandoned collector ship or how they managed to develop a countermeasure. Perhaps Tally could have just mentioned a bit more on how advanced this ship truly is or how disgusting it is having to work with an AI. I feel like this first talk back fell a bit flat. So hopefully again like in Mass Effect 1, we get more from Tally. In our second interaction, Tali is troubled. She reveals that she has been charged with treason by her people.

[00:20:45]All the lore dumping she did in Mass Effect 1 rounds nicely here as we refer back to the flotillaa government and the admirality board. As Tally says, it's extremely uncommon for a Quoran to be accused of treason, stating it's reserved for crimes that affect the entire flotilla. The thing is, Tally has no idea what she's done. She's worried she'll be exiled, and Shepherd can agree to help her setting up her loyalty mission. Okay, this is a fantastic scene, man. Tally's writing in this series so far has been a bit of a surprise for me. I'll let everyone into my own experience within this game. I was never a massive Tally fan, preferring other squadmates. And while I liked her, she never usually came on missions postmass effect one unless I felt I needed a tech specialist. Looking back, scene by scene, Boware has done a great job setting up one of the best loyalty missions in this game. Firstly, we take what we know about Tally's people and use that base to build onto it by showing us how Quoreans deal with traitors. Tally even gives us the short story of the last Quan to be charged with treason, who ended up sacrificing herself to save the flotillaa, which ultimately led to her being pardoned.

[00:21:55]Then we get a narrative clash. We have always known Tali to put the flotillaa first. Her pride for her people is strong. She's the daughter of an admiral. The two times we saw Tally prior to recruitment, she was on a Cororean mission. Why then is she being charged with treason? It's an extremely interesting plot development for her.

[00:22:13]Lastly, having Tally outright state she's scared here might seem like a missed opportunity for subtext, but I'd argue it actually means more having her be so honest. She was surely scared in Mass Effect 1, but never told us. Her telling us here shows a vulnerability that we haven't really seen from her.

[00:22:31]Her whole future is unknown. and in jeopardy and far more than it was in the first game. Overall, a really good setup for her. Now, let's dive into one of the coolest loyalty missions in the game.

[00:22:42]Approaching the migrant fleet, we see a swarm of ships just like how Tali described to us in the first game. She takes charge, asking for a cleaning team to meet her at the docks. And we see a whole slew of Borans once we're on board. This is so cool, you guys. This is like getting to go to the Githy crash with Lazelle. Getting a glimpse into an entirely new species, culture, life, and home is always cool and very much welcomed. We then get to speak with their greeting party, who informs Tally that she is being charged with bringing active GU onto the migrant fleet. And again, Tally is surprised, shocked even, stating that while she did send GU parts back for study, they were never active units. The plot thickens here on this reveal as we learn more on her charges, but also that Tally might have actually made a mistake. Moving further into the ship, we then speak with Auntie Ron, as Tally calls her, another admiral on the board, but not on the trial today due to her relationship with Tali. We get the revelation that Tali is no longer of the Nema and now of the Normandy. Having her ship name stripped of her means she's as good as exiled. She says before Commander Shepherd is asked to speak for Tali on her trial as it's explained in Cororean culture that it's normal for the captain to represent the accused since she's now Tali Vas Normandy. This duty is taken up by Shepherd. Again, a really cool nugget of lore seamlessly woven in here. Bowware makes this whole discussion of Quorean governance and law an actually interesting conversation by not only having it unique, what with the captain of the Quoran in question speaking up for their crew mate, but having it happened to Tally and finding a good way to have Shepherd be involved in the trial and not just standing off to the side. At this point, Tally and maybe even our own heads are probably spinning. Things don't make sense. We're wondering what Tally did. And this mystery is fantastic. And now we're about to find out what the heck is going on. As we walk into the hall, we see how the Quoreans live. They actually have greenery, which is nice. Quickly, the trial begins. As we engage into the trial, it's revealed that Tally does indeed stand trial for sending parts of GU that could have reactivated. And of course, we dispute this before one of the admirals, the harshest one of the three and the one most against Tally in this trial, snaps at her, stating that GU have overtaken her father's ship, and as far as they can tell, he's dead.

[00:25:11]Tally's hopeless cry here is a great heartstring puller. And this reveal is awesome. An immediate problem is now upon us. GU are just feet away from the migrant fleet, and Shepherd proposes that we put a stop to that here and now.

[00:25:24]Following this, in our debrief with Ron, she apologizes to Tally for not telling her about her father sooner, but that it was what she had to do to show the board that Tally truly was innocent and had no idea. With that, we're off to save the day. This whole plot line for Tally is utterly fantastic thus far. We again have great narrative cohesion by building on what we know about Boreans and adding a bit more at the top. And that comes in the shape of seeing their home world, learning about how they handle serious crimes. And with Tali, we get her father in the center frame of this conflict. We have Tally's heart and love for her people once again being tested through these accusations. We have her tasked with saving her people again. The admirality board dynamic is also great with three members, all of whom come into play. One admiral is a big fan of Tali's finding this whole trial a farce. Another is completely against Holly, angry, upset, and calling her a fool. It's pretty clear which way he'll be voting. The third admiral comes off a bit more of a centrist. So, at this time, it's hard to know which way she'll lean. All of this is so tightly packed together and interesting on multiple levels that I have to praise it all. Even the extended lore about the Quorans planning an allout war against the GU is cool to learn. But in regards to Tally, I'm perhaps straying a bit away. It's a little bit hard. With Tally, she is a representative of an entire race for the player. Just like in writing when they tell you that your villain shouldn't just be a bunch of shadowy figures all a part of an organization, and that it might be wiser to have one central antagonist. That way, your protagonist has someone to go up against. The same applies to Tally.

[00:27:09]She is our lifeline to the Quoreans and so her plot sometimes extends beyond her like in Mass Effect 1 where a lot of what we can talk to her about is about her people but not so much about her personally in this game. Thus far, we've gotten a lot more of that personal conflict within Tally, and this loyalty mission is an expert way of weaving her job of being the Quoran plot device and giving her independence to stand on her own through having to save her father and possibly clean up her mistakes. So, we board the ship and begin trying to solve what the heck happened. Tally finds parts throughout, but struggles to see how any of this could have happened, theorizing that either she made a mistake, or her father might have done something he shouldn't have. We then have a discussion with Tali, where she gets frustrated, suspecting her father was purposefully turning on G, a crime of the highest order in Quorean law. Was it to keep his promise to Tally of building her a home on Ranok? She's not sure. Shepherd can suggest to Tally to give up trying to get back to her home world and she'll turn to us and criticize us, opening up for the first time on how hard it truly is to live in an Envirro suit, how she can't kiss or smell a flower without fearing sickness and death. Unlike Commander Shepherd, the pilgrimage showed her what her people were missing. And she, like many others, wants their home world back sooner rather than later. If that means going to war with the GU, so be it. I like this. Tali grew up between the first and second games. She isn't a kid anymore. She says here how the pilgrimage ultimately gave her even more pride in her Quorean roots in history.

[00:28:50]And anytime we've brought up how it might have been wrong for the Quoreans to attempt a genocide, Tally vehemently defends her people. Whether you agree with her or not, it's nice that she is willing to stand on her own and not just blindly agree with the player character.

[00:29:03]I also enjoy that we can't just paragon or renegade speech check her either to change her whole opinion. It's way too early in her plotline for that anyway.

[00:29:12]She came to this conclusion through her background and had that reinforced once she saw what freedoms the Cororeans had been truly living without. That's a very human way of understanding things. Her experiences have ultimately shaped who she is. As we push further in, we find her father who has been killed by the GU. Tally is distraught, kneeling before her father, wondering how he could die, how he could leave her. We have the chance to console Tally by hugging her, and she then gets to work trying to find out if her father left her any kind of message. Turns out he did, explaining that they have to get to the bridge and prevent the GU from forming any new neural links. With that, his hologram disappears. And Tally wonders if her father ever cared, or if he did, if this was his twisted way of showing it. This is naturally a big moment for Tally and another coming of age moment as well.

[00:30:05]Her father, the last piece of her youth, has just died. Boware was clever. Using him as a plot device to further push Tali to grow, but also having him killed by the GU drives that narrative conflict further, setting up Tali to ultimately be tasked with overcoming her hatred for Legion and the GU. Clever and very well done, Boware. This is also our first time actually being able to be physical with Tally, and we're there for her in an extremely low moment. This comes off pretty genuine and it does set the seedling for the inevitable romance. The final portion of this mission has us shutting down the central hub. And as we arrive at the console, Tally finds some traces left behind by her father. In fact, it's a perfect piece of evidence that can free her from any wrongdoing.

[00:30:57]It's a video of her father openly admitting to building a GU neural network from the parts Tally sent them.

[00:31:03]All in the name of studying a way to defeat the GU so that he can give his daughter a home on their home world.

[00:31:10]When pushed by his associates that if Tally sent active parts back that they'd progress much faster, her father denies this, stating that he will not have his daughter caught in any political blowback. Tally is distraught, learning that her father was knowingly committing this crime. Despite the reasons that he had, if they brought this evidence back to the council, yes, it would clear Tali's name, but it would smear her fathers and he'd face a fate worse than exile. He'd be labeled a traitor to his people. Tally pleads for us not to show this video. She'd rather be exiled, never being able to see the migrant fleet again, than have this happen and to her father. But ultimately, as Tali's captain, it's up to us on what we want to do. This is utterly fantastic. Her loyalty mission so far has hit beat after beat with no dead space in between. Higher and higher stakes are being built with more and more emotional weight, and here is no different. We have the video evidence and in this false victory style, Tali learns that this wouldn't free her. It would only bring her and her father shame and guilt. We see the familial bond as her father draws the line of not involving Tali due to his love for her. And she returns that favor by sacrificing her freedom for his name. Also, true to what we know Tally to be, she is willing to pursue the greater good, especially for a cause like this. These actions she's taken don't just tell us what kind of person she is, they show us. The writers have a firm understanding on what the emotional underlines for Tali are, her father. And they weigh that against the more literal goals that Tally has, clearing her name. This makes for a fantastic conflict and leads to one final choice. Depending on a few factors, you ultimately can expose Tally's father and the evidence, which leads to her being cleared of her charges, but she will be extremely upset with you. You can also speech check the board, clearing Tally of her charges through your charisma. You can rally the crowd only if you saved Vtor and Cal Riger, which does also lead to Tally being cleared of charges and makes for some good callbacks. or you can attempt to lie to the council without speech checking at all, leading to her father's image being saved, but Tally ultimately exiled. All of these options tend to lean towards a variation of discussing Tali's contributions to her people and what she sacrificed. Now, I admit it is a bit of a shame that Shephard does all the talking for Tally here. I understand it for the cultural reasons, but it does feel like Tally herself was robbed of a moment here. I'm not saying she had to do the entire monologue herself, but perhaps having Shepherd tell Tally all the things she's done for her people or in a moment of anger with the council for using her trial as a proxy for pushing the war on the GU, she can call the board out for this. Instead, she doesn't really get to say anything. Now, in the immediate debriefing with Tali, she can thank you for listening to her wishes and preserving her father's image. This scene and Shepherd defending Tally so aggressively puts another notch into the budding romance. So, this is a bit of a win-loss scenario. We get Shepherd standing up for her, but she loses out on a moment that I think she could have benefited from, and that would have probably made this scene pretty much perfect. Overall, this loyalty mission is great. One of the best. Not only is it a deep dive for Cororean culture and law as we've discussed, but it is a fantastic personal mirror and journey for Tally here, as she faces stakes that test her loyalty to her people, her family, and herself. I'd say this is near perfection, barring the ending, where again, if she got a chance to say something at the end of the trial, something to perhaps capstone her intentions to stand by her father, obviously without saying anything about the evidence, then yeah, we'd be looking at a slightly better scene. who writing across both games thus far has been great. Now we can begin to get into her romance as for the remainder of Mass Effect 2. There isn't too much more.

[00:35:18]Approaching Tali, she'll remark that she got a small sickness after patching up some damage that she took aboard the Allery in her loyalty mission. We can ask her about her people and she'll provide some lore this time on Cororean biology and their home world containing viruses that were actually helpful. And thus this led to her people's immune system adapting to be in a weaker state.

[00:35:39]Hence why they're so fragile now to pretty much everything. Something I appreciate with Tali is that despite so much of her being an expositor for Cororean culture, it is nice how varied her expositions get. From Cororean biology to their planet, their politics, law, and history, it makes for a refreshing listen each time she talks to us again, even though a lot of it is lore. But then we get another shade of Taly here. As Shepherd sympathizes with Tali on how hard living in a suit must truly be, she reveals that yes, it is that even amongst friends they live in their suits. With someone whom they trust, the most poignant sign of trust is linking their Envirro suits together.

[00:36:21]But Tali reveals that she's never trusted anyone like that. Well, at least not Aquarian. She stumbles, beginning to stutter, and in a comedic sense, looking to backtrack on her statements, protests that she didn't mean it like that. If Shepherd pushes back in a romantic way, they can suggest that they'd like to, but that it would be dangerous for Tali, who I'm sure smiles at the thought that Shephard, a dashing commander who is saving the galaxy, and her life, as she describes, wants to be intimate with her. She awkwardly ends the conversation with Shepherd, and this romance is officially off and running. This is fantastic. Once again, we forget that Tally is still a young Quarian who has lived a life, especially these last two years, doing missions and seeing the world. But it's also clear that while she's matured in some ways, love, affection, and opening up to someone who she cares about are still some things that she doesn't have much experience with at all. Obviously, her behavior here is fantastic, and I praise the new shade of Tali that we got to see here as well. Through our time with her, we're slowly exploring more of the kind of person Tali is. We're getting the chance to visibly see her growing into herself, learning from events occurring around her. I like the romance in here as well.

[00:37:38]It comes off pretty real, and her awkwardness makes sense. Back on Hastram, we heard the audio logs of Tally reminiscing on her admiration of Shepherd. And here she states how dashing and heroic the commander is. So, it's not surprising she might have a crush on the commander. The next conversation we can have with Tali comes quickly after our last where Tali apologizes for her selfishness and her being unprofessional with you, stating that she can't be with you because she would get sick and that it would jeopardize the mission, that it would cause Shepherd to be distracted. She cites that she's watched Shepherd for a long time. How he saved colonists on Feros. How she saw his face when the Vermier squadmate died. But she never thought Shepherd would be able to see past her mask to see the real her. If Shepherd wants, he can commit to Tally here. And he promises that he'll find a way to make it work. And Tali doubles down on this, thanking Shepherd for the reassurance here, stating that she wants to feel his skin on hers and that she has never shown her face to anyone. But with Shepherd, she trusts them and would be glad to have them be her first. I love it. Some fantastic symbolism here with Tali saying Shepherd sees past her mask. Of course, this implies that Shepherd sees Tali for who she really is, not just literally her face. Also a little bit of self-deprecation from Tali where she calls herself selfish for wanting this despite her always being a selfless person, someone who has given everything for her people, never putting her own interests first. The romance being locked in like this is also great as it really feels like her admiration and affection for Shepherd was born out of respect and she values the trust Shepherd has in her along with how seen she feels around Shep. Just before starting the suicide mission, this romance is capped off by well, a romance scene. Tally appears behind Shepherd, revealing that she has juiced her immune system up to the max for your big night.

[00:39:37]She starts talking rapidly as she reveals she is nervous and openly states that it's a defense mechanism when she's nervous and says she feels the need to overexlain since people can't see her facial expressions. Shepherd removes her mask and the first words maskless that she says is the word feeling. Poetic and an expression that Tally is now being seen in a way she'd never been seen before. She's feeling something she'd never felt before either. Love. She then pounces on Shepherd and romance occurs.

[00:40:09]A lot of the Mass Effect 2 romance scenes take this steamy approach, but I can appreciate here getting some symbolism around Tally removing her mask and the briefest mention of her acknowledging her defense mechanism. And that pretty much concludes Tali's story arc in Mass Effect 2. She does have a fantastic set of interactions with Legion, which really helps both us, the player, and Tali understand. Legion is perhaps the largest piece of wasted potential in the entire series. But in Mass Effect, making a bit of peace between Tali and Legion when they get into an argument about him sending classified data to the GU colony and taking Talia on Legion's loyalty mission where we learned that the GU from Mass Effect 1 had been rewritten to worship Sovereign does some massive leaps and bound for offering a whole new perspective to us on the GU. And it does offer Tali that same insight where she completes this mini arc. Her viewpoints shift slightly on the GU that perhaps she wasn't fully right in her belief that all GU are bad. And this plants a great seed for her story in Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3. Overall, Tali's story in this game builds very well from the first. She has clearly grown up from the first game to the second game. And while her arc in the second game isn't as large, the conflict at hand still centers on themes that are important to Tali. pride in your people, doing what must be done, and sacrifice. We get much deeper with Tali emotionally when she finds her father has been killed and she stands trial. We also get seedlings for the Quarry and conflict with an impending war on the GU that is built throughout her loyalty mission, Legion, and Tally's own comments. So far, her characterization and story have been handed pretty darn expertly. Something to note here before we move on to Mass Effect 3 is that like Geris, Tali is the only other companion recruitable in all three base games. Like Garris, this means that Tally shares a special bond with the player. No doubt about it. But unlike Garis, her romance and her story arc have both been handled fantastically with very little flaws that I can find thus far. She is equal parts well done in writing as she is with fitting in the sci-fi lore of her people, race, and goals. Let's move into the third game and see if she can maintain this solid momentum. For Tali, once again, she is pushed a little down the line in regards to recruitment. After the defense of the Citadel, Hackett tells us the Quarans would be willing to help in the war effort, and they were requesting a meeting with Shepherd. So, we head out to the Perseus Veil, and we no doubt expect to see Tali. All the admirals come on board and then the newest admiral, Talivos Normandy, reappears.

[00:42:51]It's a surprise to us, no doubt, that she's been named an admiral, especially given what happened in her loyalty mission, but she suggests it's just a formality due to her vast information on the GU. She reiterates that the Quoreans first need to finish this stupid war with the GU before they can assist Shepherd. And we can probe Tally, confused on why she isn't for the war.

[00:43:12]She cites her conversations with Legion as the reason she believes there could be peace, but cites that she had to agree with the Admirality Board, citing that her disagreement would have led to division that her people did not need.

[00:43:24]We then get a chance to rekindle the embers of our romance with Tali, who takes a very mature response here, stating that she'd prefer if this is kept a secret in front of the admirals before implying that Shepherd should invite her up to their cabin if they truly wish to speak. She reminds Shepherd that their night of romance was still totally worth it. And this concludes her intro. I think this is my favorite intro of the three, and I'll tell you why. The reveal of Tally being named an admiral is pretty cool and a big character growth moment for her. Her citing that peace in her mind is possible is of course a call back to our time spent with Legion. In order for her to accept that change in her mind, having her interact with Legion was an important step. When Legion attempted to send Corore and plans for attack on the GU, Legion did what Tally would have done if the roles had been reversed, help his people. She can see that once Shepherd diffuses situation. When Tally goes with Legion on his loyalty mission and sees how misguided its people are, that strikes a chord perhaps as Tally questions if her own people's hatred of the GU is even justified. If perhaps the Quoreans are at fault as well. She has maybe realized that Legion and her are not as different as she might have believed. And that's just really well done writing. You want to tell your audience that Tally and Legion are similar. How do you do it? By making a quest that weaves in these themes and points. That is good writing. So, her addressing that here is fantastic. And we'll get more of that as her story progresses. Once again, we see that Tali's character hasn't stayed stagnant either. She's still got pride for her people, but she is now a leader amongst them and might have the kind of rhetoric that can help unite two people together.

[00:45:06]Unconsciously, she's got to figure out how she can do that andor if she even wants to make peace with the GU. We can then speak with Tali before inviting her up to her cabin. And she'll detail how she became an admiral, but more importantly, how she's struggling to keep afloat, managing what she thinks is best versus what the other admirals and perhaps her own people think is best.

[00:45:27]She details how she didn't want this war and wanted to try peace talks with Legion, who she'd been keeping in contact with, but was outvoted. Her tone of voice suggests that she struggled not to tell Legion about the attack, but as Shepherd states, she'd have betrayed her own people. Once more, Tali sacrifices for the greater good for her people.

[00:45:47]This is consistent characterization and again, great conflict as we see a personal struggle within her. Inviting Tally up to her cabin provides even more insight into her struggle. Shepherd asks her point blank if she's okay, and she responds bluntly that she's not. She is struggling knowing that 17 million lives in an entire fleet rest on her young shoulders. She admits that she accepted the position because she believes it's what Shepherd would have done, but still she feels out of place. A bit of imposttor syndrome. You can then rekindle the romance here, asking Tally to stay with you, reminding her that she isn't alone. And with that, another fantastic scene ends. Again, Boware nailed the parallels here, likening Tally to Shepherd here. Both are leaders of their people. Both are struggling with accepting that they can't save everyone. Both are struggling to make their voices heard amongst those who would not listen in their race. It works so well here. On top of this, we get another call back to Tali looking up to Shepherd here. And of course, we get some of Tali's blunt honesty as well.

[00:46:54]This scene serves as an emotional plate that serves us inside into Tali's inner conflict of being the leader she needs to be and also her outer conflicts of making possible peace between the Quorans and the GU along with getting her people's home back and avoiding the death of her entire race. Fantastic stuff. Super tight writing, very well layered, really well structured.

[00:47:19]Everything Talia has told us is being reused here, and that is an excellent use of your real estate within a script.

[00:47:26]Seems her writing in Mass Effect 3 is starting off even stronger than in Mass Effect 1 and in Mass Effect 2. Something I'll specifically say regarding the Coran VG conflict is that it's not only an extremely relevant plot being attached to the larger conflict of the Reaper Voganics, but it's also timely for our own time in the current day with the rise of AI. Not to mention, this is probably the most well-done plot out of the entire trilogy. This story cleverly chose the representatives that I talked about earlier in the form of Tali and Legion, who are both similar in regards to personality, but also wildly different in terms of makeup and species. This plot is full both with regards to its world conflict all the way down to how that's shown its drama through its own character conflicts.

[00:48:10]It's fantastic stuff. Then comes the dreadnot where we venture back into GU culture and luckily we'll have Tally with us who comments on how advanced all of this seems, how this war is highly risky for her people. Then we stumble upon Legion, rescue him, and the stern-headed admiral from the second game, Admiral Guerell, thinks now is a good time to fire on the ship that we are also on board of. It's a great callback, bringing Guerell back and having some infighting between the Cororeans. I love this plotline. There are so many different conflicts going on. You then get a mission centered more on Legion and the GU perspective. While not technically a part of Tali's story, having the additional perspective on what happened to the GU and how they felt betrayed by their creators is fantastic. It adds context to Tali's life and her feeling of uneasiness regarding the war and why it might not have been the right decision, which as you're seeing is something that's also developing through the third game. It's sort of a mini arc for Tali as she comes to peace knowing that her people might have also made a mistake. But the ultimate decision still lies in her hands as to if they want to correct that mistake. We also get to assault a GU air defense base. We also find some dead Quarans, civilians practically, who have never even held a gun before and others that have dead at the scene. As we find out just how much the Quans are willing to sacrifice for their cause, the weight of this war is pressing down further. It truly feels like we're reaching the climax of a century old conflict and the climax of the next chapter in Tali's life. And sure enough, here's our climax. Priority Ranok has us land the Quarry and home world. And this is it, the final fight. This mission has to be the legitimate peak of Mass Effect 3.

[00:49:52]And Tali being a central key figure in this just highlights how amazingly put together this whole story line was. For her story specifically, we get near the end where you fight a whole reaper by yourself and she tells you that she loves you and Shepherd will respond back with the Quorean phrase kila salai. Oh man, the duality of them telling each other how much they care about each other in this moment in their respective partners' language. Can it get better than this? Well, apparently yes, it can.

[00:50:25]After you destroy said Reaper, both Legion and Tally will meet you below.

[00:50:30]Legion remarks that he can upload the Reaper code without fear that the GU will become mindless slaves and instead be restored to full intelligent, fully sensient individual beings. Tali remarks that this would mean the Quarian fleet would be obliterated, pleading with Shepherd not to do this. And this right here, ladies and gentlemen, is how you write. Remember earlier when I said that Tally was on a mini arc of trying to see if her people made a mistake and if helping the GU is the right thing? Well, boom, here comes a decision that ultimately is so true to her character.

[00:51:06]Two things can be true at the same time.

[00:51:09]She might feel that the GU were done dirty, but in this moment she has to now decide between the GU and her people.

[00:51:15]And we know Tally, she will always pick her people. This Cory and VGE conflict received a lot of buildup from Mass Effect 1 and 2. never falling flat. And with Tali, one of our most loyal squadmates as the expositor, plus all of this conflict tying directly into her own personal goals, when we get to this decision, man, is it hard. Throw in Legion and then us getting further perspective in Mass Effect 3, and you have a very seriously hard moral dilemma. And it's a hard moral dilemma because it's so well built up through both sides. This scene has a few alternate ways of ending with arguably the saddest being if you can't persuade check the conflict and you side with Legion in which Tali literally watches her entire race be destroyed before her very eyes. Her sobs as she removes her mask and then hurls herself off the cliff is just my god. I had honestly forgotten for a minute how amazing this game's writing and presentation was at times. Seriously, this is the peak of Mass Effect 3. That hit so so so hard.

[00:52:23]And of course, if you side with Tali, the entire GU race will die and you lose Legion in a very brutal fashion. But in order to get the most from Tali story, we'll go down the speech check route. In this route, you complete one of the biggest plots in the game by uniting the GU and Quarryan people with Tali completing her arc by acknowledging that Legion does in fact have a soul. This of course is subtextual because her admitting that Legion has a soul is also admitting that what the Quorans did to the GU was wrong. Beautiful stuff. It's also, of course, a call back to the very thing that set this whole world al light when the first Gu asked if they had a soul. Beautiful stuff. She also completes an outer conflict at the same time by giving her people their home world back. I mean, it's fantastic character growth. And what a powerful line to hold for Tali until this very moment. How far Tally has come. This moment is that pinnacle character growth moment for her. Overcoming her hatred towards Gu and becoming a hero amongst her people. The moment you have with Tally is fantastic, too. It is super grounded. Shepherd says that he won't ask Tally to leave her home world, and she tells Shepherd that she doesn't know if they can beat the Reapers, but with the time that she has left, she wants to be with Shepherd. I love the fact that Shepherd can even acknowledge the fact that it's kind of unfair to ask Tally to leave after just getting her home world back. It's an extremely mature tone that this conversation has. It's also Shepherd being a good partner and not being selfish. and once again has Tally being selfless. Not to throw dirt at him, but in my Garis analysis, a little gripe I had with him was that his romance and his story had far too much flirting and not enough deep conversations like this. Yes, Tally and the commander flirt right after this, but it comes off much more naturally since Shepherd made his concerns known right from the opening moment of this scene. And once Tally gave him the reassurance, he makes a little joke to lighten the mood. I am pretty stunned how flawless Tally has made out in this trilogy. Honestly, I have zero complaints at all. This wraps up Ranok and with it wraps up a huge chunk of Tali's story. Now, of course, like any of the other companions, Tali is able to come along on every mission and provides great banter and lines on said missions and on the Normandy, interacting with Liara, the Vermier survivor, and even setting up an implied romance between her and Garris. if Shepherd didn't romance her. She feels as natural to the party as any of the others I'd mentioned. But man, does her story just blow the other three out of the water.

[00:55:03]Despite them all being OG's, Tali is on another level, both in personal conflicts and outer goals. From character depth and growth to her core traits always presenting themselves when her people are in need of her. Should we wrap up the remainder of Tali's story and romance? Then, just like in my Garis analysis, I won't be covering pretty much any of the Citadel DLC. Although seeing a drunk tally is hilarious and fantastic. The apartment date where she shows you the romance movie that FTL her into puberty and sings to you is just ridiculous man and a lot of fun as is the entirety of that DLC. And a compliment that I'm going to toss to the Citadel DLC is us getting to see more of that fun side of Tali that we had only really seen glimpses of before. Here we get to see how much of a goof and a nerd she can be. It's great stuff. Just before the final attack on the Reapers, Tally will come to your cabin and the two of you share one final romance.

[00:55:57]Afterward, Shepherd lets the weight of everything come down on them, just a bit here. And it's Tally who reminds him that no one else could have done more, that Shepherd has brought everyone together. Shepherd wonders if there'll be anything left after the fighting is over. And Tally empathizes with Shepherd. They both have and do feel this way. Tally shares that when she gets like that, she reaches for Shepherd. Poignant words, truly. We already know that Tally idolizes Shepherd and has been for a long time.

[00:56:27]But now that the two are together, she uses her shared experiences to lift Shepherd up. Nice. And thus she begin the advance on Earth. Tally and Shepherd mirror each other here in the final talk before the final push, where they remember Ranok, how they told each other they loved each other, how it's Shepherd's turn to take his home world back. The duality in the writing here is rich. If you romance Tally, then it's even richer. The advance proceeds, and Harbger's beam hits your team, and Shepherd sends them to retreat, and you get one final moment with Tali. Shepherd tells Tali, despite her pleased not to leave her, that he wants her to go back to Ranok to build herself a home, to which Tali responds that she already has a home, pleading with Shepherd to come back with her. With that, that is the last thing we say to Tali. and Shepherd goes on to save the galaxy. It's a fantastic last line filled with double meaning. Of course, Tally has a home and that is on Ranok, but subtextually speaking, she of course means that Shepherd is her home, the place that she feels safest, most secured, and loved.

[00:57:33]Wherever he goes is where her home is.

[00:57:37]And that wraps up an utterly fantastic trilogy spanning story for Tally, if you ask me. Not that you are, but since I love comparisons, her story is far tighter, more dynamic, and better written than Garris's, the only other three game companion. She has a lot going on. And I have to say, Boware handled her blooming of a character pretty damn well. Mass Effect 1, we had a scared quarry teen that was just embarking on seeing the galaxy. Her goal was just to find something to bring back to her people, and she ended up on a team that saved the galaxy alongside Shepherd. In Mass Effect 2, Tali had been forced to grow up a little faster.

[00:58:18]And due to her father being an admiral, no doubt felt the weight of impressing her entire race. From her devout pride for her Quarian race in the first game, it comes as a surprise that she's on trial for treason. And going on that trial just expands far further into the Quoran people. She loses her father and we see another wound for her character develop, but also see her grow into a future example to her people as she takes on the collectors and once again saves the galaxy. But the impending war from her race looms ever present on her mind. And in Mass Effect 3, here comes that war that has had two games worth of buildup. And Tali is now an admiral again growing in position literally but also in maturity. realizing what her disagreeing with the board could mean for her people. And as always, she's just trying to do the right thing. We take everything we have come to know about her and her people and the GU and this forces her into a war. Once more tasked with saving the galaxy, yes, but more importantly, saving her home world and ending this conflict with the death.

[00:59:23]She has extremely strong conflict through all three games with her characterization showing multiple facets of a person from funny to cunning to loving to deeply emotional. There isn't a moment for me and her story that really sags apart from probably Mass Effect 1. But one could argue that this was a sacrifice that the second and third games benefited from since we had so much lore established. She never feels out of place either. With this being a sci-fi game and her tech specialty, it always makes sense in my head cannon to bring her along on missions. I'm impressed by Boware's ability to juggle her so well for so long. Out of the two squadmates recruitable across all three games, I think her writing blows Garrison's out of the water. There's just more there, and the stakes are higher, too. Out of all the OGs, I dare say she might be one of the best handled, too. But I'll hold off on saying anything else until those analysises are complete. But that is going to conclude this analysis on Tali.

[01:00:21]This was a blast and I was surprised.

[01:00:24]It's been a while since I'd played through the series and my memory was a bit foggy on some of the shorter and smaller scenes. Tally is very well written. A big thank you to YouTuber Neil X Gaming for posting eight whole hours worth of Tally content. saved me a little bit of time. So, thank you. Also, a large thank you to everyone watching this video. By the time of upload, no doubt we'll have hit 4,000 subscribers, which is another milestone. And of course, just a thousand away from 5,000.

[01:00:56]I can't begin to say how thankful I am to everyone. You folks have no idea the joy this stuff brings me and how helpful the extra money is to me and my future family. So, thank you. The next Mass Effect character analysis poll will be posted on my community page. So, go ahead and head on over and vote for who you'd like to see next. Until the next time, everyone, be well, take care of yourself, and I'll see you all very soon. Bye-bye.