User blog comment:AdmMiller/What's so great about Tali? And why do most dislike Miranda?/@comment-1858991-20101207020824/@comment-217683-20101207021821

I totally disagree. I think Miranda was excellently written, including the fact (key to the development of her character) that she tries to stay aloof and distant. It's part of what makes the character so great, and part of what makes romancing her so fulfilling. If anything, though I think Tali is a great character, her romance is the weaker of the two, at least in my opinion. She is, in essence, a Shepard groupie. And, as you say, you really get the sense with Tali's loyalty mission that she could have accomplished it all on her own. Shepard is not key to her defense, unless you choose the "rally the crowd" option, and while Shep is good, a decent squad of marines, perhaps led by a recuperated Kal'Reegar, could just as easily have retaken the Alerai. After all, remember that Tali had intended to do her loyalty mission all by herself until Shepard volunteered.

Miranda already takes a lot of undeserved flak, but the charge that her character is poorly written is just all kinds of wrong, at least in my opinion. She's not a cookie-cutter, open-book, dime-a-dozen video game character like Tali is. She's got a lot of complexity due to her unique situation, and that's what makes her such a great character.