Within the trilogy, Tali is one of the most popular characters, with various sources describing her as a fan favorite. Steven Hopper, writing for IGN, listed her as his second favorite Mass Effect teammate after Garrus Vakarian, praising her "endearing geekiness" and the story that follows her. Similarly, UGO ' s Sal Basile listed her as the fourth best squadmate in Mass Effect 3, giving credit to her in-game abilities. Kate Gray from Kotaku was shocked and horrified by Tali's sudden death as an unforeseen consequence of her decision making during her initial Mass Effect 3 playthrough, which made her realize that for her, Tali had changed over the course of the trilogy "from a voiced collection of tech skills into a person whose input and companionship I valued... not, at least, until it was too late". Kirk Hamilton, of Kotaku, also felt her one-on-one dialogue scene in the Citadel DLC was the best out of all the squadmates'. A reader's poll published by IGN in December 2014 for their top ultimate RPG party choices placed Tali at #20 under the reserves section. Another reader's poll published by PC Gamer in 2015 reveal that Tali was the third most popular love interest for Shepard, and was overall the second most popular Mass Effect character. A poll of series fans held for the 2016 edition of Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition showed that Tali was the second most popular romantic choice among respondents. In a 2016 article, PC Gamer ranked Tali the sixth best companion of the Mass Effect series. PC Gamer staff praised the character's story arc which spans across the entire trilogy, and "her personal conflict with Legion is a genuinely tense balancing act, and Tali's loyalty mission deepens your understanding of the geth/quarian conflict and the quarian customs".