The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Its more that...although there are creepy fans for everything...the creepy Tali fans get really really creepy
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BioWare shares early concept art/alien/Tali designs for Mass Effect 1/2/3 and DA2
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Its more that...although there are creepy fans for everything...the creepy Tali fans get really really creepy
grosvenor_92
Member
I really liked some of those concepts and wished they were used in the final products
Miles Quaritch
Member
Damn, Shadow Broker concept looks incredible.
Ultimadrago
Member
They didn't subject Tali's face reveal to their ugly character models. Good.
I prefer them as well.
Human-Tube!
I prefer them as well.
Human-Tube!
Sapphire Dreams
Member
Matt Rhodes is an amazing artist, too bad he no longer has a Deviant Art page 
I feel that every time I look at concept art, it's something which won't be used in-game. Seems there's a heavy committee-based process rather than much artistic freedom if you can come up with output like this and not have it be part of the game (meanwhile the included design is middle-of-the-road).
Who vetoes all the good stuff?
Who vetoes all the good stuff?
Reality.
Most of those concept art would be much harder to model and animate. That's what you get simple stuff.
Winterfang
Banned
I could only make it to the beginning of the second paragraph... T_T
Still seems a bit silly people wanting the Quarians to be really Alien looking just because of Tali creepy ass fans. It makes sense that they are really human like, specially looking at the difference between male and females.
Also how does female Turian look? I don't believe I saw a single one.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
The Asari were designed from ME1 to be a species with a romance option, which is why they look identical to humans except for blue coloration and head tentacles. The Asari are, as a result, the worst species in ME from a design standpoint. Utterly lazy and poorly thought out. The only reason Tali didn't look like a purple woman from the first game was because she was not planned to be a romance option, like Garrus. Although we already directly saw Garrus' face in ME1, so they couldn't change that while Tali's face (and all quarian faces) were a mystery and they could make it whatever they wanted. I just want to emphasize the idea that "romance = ludicrously human design" was there right from the start, rather than being something that came in later entries (and I can see in this thread people are already incorporating this into the "ME1 = god, all later entries suck" narrative).
CharmingCharlie
Member
Like this :-
pic said:
Bioware finally introduced a female Turian into the game with the Omega DLC and that was about the only notable, worthwhile thing about that DLC
I H8 Memes
Member
I didnt even care after they pussied out of showing her face in ME2. Perhaps one of the most pathetically BS decisions in gaming history.
I think it's weird that people always complain about this. ME feels like it's trying to appeal to fans of old space-operas and scifi flicks, to the point where they even put a weird filter over the action so you don't forget it.
Rubber forehead aliens are a part of that package.
This, I can agree with. There is a line where you can't hide behind the notion that it's supposed to be stylized. That line is "blue space babes"
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
The only rubber forehead aliens in ME1 are the Asari. Unless you're counting all bipedals as RFA's. If it was making a deliberate homage to TV SF of yore, 90% of the species in the game would look like humans but with nose ridges, or like humans but with pointy ears. There are a large number of species across all ME games and only the Asari and I guess the Quarians later on are what you're describing.
Gozer the Gozerian
Member
I think the Batarians would count, heck they straight up just used human bodies for them and just swapped in an alien head.
Winterfang
Banned
Like this :-
Bioware finally introduced a female Turian into the game with the Omega DLC and that was about the only notable, worthwhile thing about that DLC
HOT.
Drell look pretty humanoid, batarians have very similar bodies as well.
Even if less say Tali had human skin, human teeth, human face and human hair. She would still look pretty alien because of her cricket legs and weird hands and eyes. However you out a wig on a Asari and is 100% human.
Like this :-
Bioware finally introduced a female Turian into the game with the Omega DLC and that was about the only notable, worthwhile thing about that DLC
That and Aria kissing Shepard. :lol
I was. That's usually the complaint people have about ME alien design.
Wouldn't the Drell, the Batarians and maybe the Protheans fit the label too?
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
This is what I'm talking about when I say Rubber Forehead Aliens:
Batarians are sufficiently different that although they possibly could be replicated with prosthetics, they do not look obviously human. Drell are a borderline case, if they featured on ST or B5 they would be amongst the most alien looking creatures on the show, much better than most.
I love this. Why couldn't we have had this?
This is awesome and fucking terrifying. Seems too dark for ME though.
Lot of interesting stuff about DA2 and it definitely sounds like they rushed.
"Giving Fenris more armor and a better haircut (we were to late…god help us, we were too late…
""His design kept changing until the music stopped and the version we had was the version we had to live with."
Angelus Errare
Banned
I await the day we get away from "human face with spikes/spots/tentacles/<insert something non human> on it"
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Winterfang
Banned
Lol the first one is just a random black guy. Well makeup is tike consuming and expensive so I give those old series a pass.
There's a lot of cool alien designs but you have to be reasonable. You need to make the characters humanoid in order to be relatable. That's why the love interest isn't a Keeper. That's why you don't have a Hanar and an Elcor in your squad.
Specially in a game about interaction with those ones, let alone romance.
But there's enough variety, for example Salarians. The look different to humans in just about every category but they look human enough for us to empathize with them.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
Some of these are fantastic.
Yes this, when Bioware said we where going to see protheans I was expecting them to look like the statues on Ilos, before ME3 I always thought they created the reapers, since the statues kinda look like them.
I can't believe they seriously went with the Terminator ripoff Reaper.
The Mass Effect series really could have been so much more.
Having their faces be so similar to a human's is such a lazy cop-out. In a series based on the unity of a galaxy of different species, shouldn't Bioware have enough faith in its fans to accept that Shephard could find a face that is ugly by our standards attractive? If those weird "Talimancer" fans like the character "for her personality", shouldn't they not care what she looks like?
The Mass Effect series really could have been so much more.
They're aliens. They have digitrade legs, two big toes, and three long fingers. The males seem to have elongated faces.
Having their faces be so similar to a human's is such a lazy cop-out. In a series based on the unity of a galaxy of different species, shouldn't Bioware have enough faith in its fans to accept that Shephard could find a face that is ugly by our standards attractive? If those weird "Talimancer" fans like the character "for her personality", shouldn't they not care what she looks like?
I don't love the baby reaper or Kai Leng designs, but then again I really don't like those concept to begin with. Most of the other pictures were great and insightful. I would love to know the full story of the Shepard/Ashley scene that was shown. That would have been intense to see in-game.
BRocknRolla
Member
Some really cool potential here. It's a shame some of these got left behind for generic designs; Tali in particular.
Edit: I love the nonsense debates about how "realistic" it would be that so many aliens were bipedal humanoids. No jokes; I honestly love it. Has anyone made the argument that evolutionarily that form was found to be the most efficient? I mean, the previous cycle Prothreans weren't all that different either, so it may be argued that a bipedal humanoid form is simply likely to win out on most worlds.
Edit: I love the nonsense debates about how "realistic" it would be that so many aliens were bipedal humanoids. No jokes; I honestly love it. Has anyone made the argument that evolutionarily that form was found to be the most efficient? I mean, the previous cycle Prothreans weren't all that different either, so it may be argued that a bipedal humanoid form is simply likely to win out on most worlds.
Should have gone with that. The anarchy that would ensue would be amazing.
Considering how stupid ME is with its lack of understanding of biology or evolution, this would fit right in.
Everyone knows the real reasons are to make them more appealing to the audience (which is all humans) and so they can recycle animations.
BRocknRolla
Member
Well, of course I know that's the *real* reason. We can barely get non-male, multiracial characters in games. No way were biologically freaky alien companions or unconventional xenophilic romances going to make the cut.
I was just engaging in a dumb conversation.
I looove this Tali design. The whole "what does she look like?!" mystery was so contrived. And when she finally is revealed she's just a photoshopped stock photo. Embarrassing shit. I want my femaliens to actually look alien. Otherwise, what's the point?
This looks way too freaky. I prefer her more human.
IonicSnake
Banned
Love this one, why didn't they put this in the frame? -_- That's it, this is now Talis face in my mind.
The Tofunator
Member
What in the world are you talking about? Most of the art I saw was at least pretty good, and stuff like the Reaper fetus and freaky mask alien were amazing to look at.
Really, really like this.
You gotta admit, the lore and world building was so good in Mass Effect. Too damn bad about that plot though.
Yeah, creatures with some completely unique mental traits, or cultural traits, could have made the dialogue somewhat interesting.
It's been awhile since I played Mass Effect, but do you not mostly interact with the "rubber forehead aliens"?
The regulars have simple "rubber foreheads" on TV shows because they have to apply that stuff to the actor every single time they shoot footage. It would have been far too time consuming and costly to make some elaborate costume to put on an actor every single time. But what's the reason for this in games?
I romanced Tali in all but one of my playthroughs and I wouldn't have had a problem with it. I mean, is Garrus not too alien?
Deified Data
Banned
Always how I imagined her.
But she isn't human.
SymbolicGamer
Banned
Or maybe Tali thought the picture frame was really cool and gave it to Shepard as a gift, and it's not even her picture.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
AlimNassor
Banned
it's stupid people think because an alien doesn't look like us they can't relate to them.