Talk: Virmire

Cutscenes

I've run this mission several times in several different combinations (save the salarians or let them die, sending different allies to do different jobs, different base accesses), but though people have mentioned it, I've never ever seen the cutscene where your ally is killed at the AA gun, only a scene of your squadmate being rescued or dying at the nuke site. Is there some condition I'm missing or does it just not exist after all? -- Tullis 22:59, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Hay Tullis before my xbox broke That was my favorate mission and I must have ran it at least two dozen times and in every playthrough I tried something new or diffrent and I did not fint the cutcseneTroy 027 16:07, 24 August 2008 (UTC) Troy 027

I believe I've seen this cutscene once when I rescued the person at the bomb, and I think the reason for that is that it was my love interest that I sacrificed and I was male. Also out of curiosity I forget if you battle Saren on his hover-platform if you decide to go to the AA gun instead of the bomb. --Delsana 03:38, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

You do fight Saren on the flier in both locations, though I prefer to fight him at the AA tower simply because when he picks you up by the throat afterwards, he's actually holding you partially over the edge. This seems a little more threatening then simply having him hold you in the air. ~SjadoJai

Plot discussion

This mission's the one that locked down my conviction the plot was terrible. Eliminating the genophage cure is taken for granted as necessary though it isn't. We're supposed to care about the choice between Ashly and Get's Headaches but only 1's a love interest depending on the PC's gender so their lives will never be of equal weight. The decision which's supposed to be the game's biggest is negligible and it's juxtaposed with genocide players have no choice to prevent. The irrationality of this mission is emphasized by the Rachni encounter (if it's ok to save the Rachni why is it too-evil-to-allow-as-an-option to save the Krogan?) and last-mission decision (if the PC can promote humanity over the council trio why must he favor the council over the Krogans?).

First off, any particular reason you decided to insert this at the very top of the page, not after all the other posts made previously? :P Also, To kinda throw my two cents in... the racnhi and krogan, not really comparable... you have the rachni, who you learn were pretty much goaded into war (likely by the Reapers), who now have one queen left who just wants to go off and rebuild her civilization in peace and isolation. Then you have the krogan, who launched a war of expansion, were knocked down, and now maintain both their militaristic, warlike ways and a colossal chip on their collective shoulders against the Citadel Council races... see the difference? As for Ashley vs Kaiden, it's not supposed to be a love thing (remember there is a third love option who is available to males and females). It's about sacrificing a friend, and a subordinate. A commander is obligated to safeguard the lives of their troops, and now you have to sacrifice one. And again, sure their lives can be of equal weight, if you go for Liara as opposed to either of them. Basically, I think all the points you brought up are really non-issues, you just need to re-examine them, as the examples I provided show. SpartHawg948 09:57, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

-Never mind, ignore the previous message... I was an idiot to not have noticed the obvious solution xDDD

say if i was trying to get the sentinel ally and soldier ally achievement at the same time, would this point in the game be before 75%? -- MEF 20:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Not sure. You can do Virmire when you choose - I'd suggest doing all the other mission worlds (finding Liara, Feros and Noveria) first, and all the sidequests you can before doing Virmire. But it might be tricky getting both achievements at once, especially as you can only take one of the allies along on the base assault. -- Tullis 22:48, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I have confirmed that this point in the game is after the majority, so it is possible to obtain the Sentinel and Soldier Ally achievements before having to sacrifice one of them. I completed Feros, then on Noveria after I defeated Matriarch Benezia I got both achievements, you need to complete all available side quests before doing this however. -- MEF 11:39, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

squad

Hello, I have a quick question that I have been wondering about for some time,I was wondering how the game forces you to bring wrex and ashley and kaidan. Couldn't their deaths be adverted by bringing, say, liara and garrus? plus how could you bring all three to complete that story bit? I know I'm probobly wasting your time but I since you guys have already beaten this bit I just thought you could explain it to me.

Everyone gets off the ship on the beach at Virmire when you meet the salarians, so if Wrex is in your party -- and he may not be -- he's around to confront Kirrahe then, and both Kaidan and Ash are there to volunteer to go with the salarians. Whoever you didn't send with the salarians helps carry the bomb off the Normandy at the base. So it's not who you choose to bring with you; circumstances put them in harm's way, and you have to decide how you handle those circumstances. --Tullis 13:02, October 2, 2009 (UTC)

Too Early?

I thought it was impossible to get to Virmire before Feros and Noveria were done, but I just got the Virmire mission from the Council while leaving Noveria, when I opened the Galaxy Map to head to Feros. Maybe since I already did Therum... --Rycr 05:36, November 3, 2009 (UTC)

The requirement is two plot mission worlds (Therum and Noveria in your case). --silverstrike 05:40, November 3, 2009 (UTC)

Equipment Changes?

Is there supposed to be a way to change your team's equipment while they're all standing around at the camp? (I couldn't see one, since they're removed from your squad and there aren't any lockers.) Does it matter if the team you're not actively controlling later on is poorly equipped / has unassigned talent points? Uecasm 06:06, January 6, 2010 (UTC)

Nothing affects the outcome of this scenario except for who you decide to save at the end. ArmeniusLOD 11:51, January 6, 2010 (UTC)

Mission link

I am curious about the mission link section. Shouldn't Virmire: Assault be listed here too? Techhead7890^Talk 04:06, August 29, 2015 (UTC)

Day Length

I don't know what it is like on other consoles but on my Xbox 360 I was messing about on Mass Effect and noticed that the Virmirean (that sounds about right to me) day is over 22 days, not 22 hours. There should be a photo as evidence.
-- GethNeedGravy 9:19, April 26, 2016 (UTC)

Virmire has very long days.