Mass Effect: Virmire Part 2

May contain spoilers!

We last left off with the choice of what character you were going to leave with Captain Kirrahe.  I really did not use Kaiden very often, so I felt that he was the character I could leave behind.  After this point you can start making your way into the back way of the facility.

The first group of enemies you will run into will be protecting the Communication Tower.  As long as you keep cover and use your sniper riffle you should be able to easily handle the majority of the Geth.  If you are looking for Paragon points you can shut down communications which would help Captain Kirrahe.

Continue to make your way past the enemies.  There are monitor objectives that can be completed on your way into the facility.  Once you reach the facility you can disable the alarms.  With this you are given the option to send the enemies to the front of the facility.  If you don't think you can handle them yourself you can choose that option.  I however decided to fight them myself.

Most of the difficult stuff is out of the way.  Make your way through the facility and shut down the AA guns so you can get set the nuke.  While going through the facility you will come across some of the prisoners that Saren has been experimenting on.  You can free them to gain Paragon points, or leave them or even kill them.

When looking to shut down the AA weapons you will come into contact with an Asari named Rana Thanoptis.  She has been working for Saren and offers to get you into his private chambers.  You notice that there is another Beacon here.  As you activate it you see some of the same images from the first beacon.

When the cut scene is complete you notice and have a long conversation with Sovereign, a Reaper.  They are real after all.  How are you going to convince the counsel of this?  You will worry about that later.  You have to shut down the AA weapons so that you can set the nuke.

Taking the elevator down to the Breeding Grounds you will encounter a few more Geth.  After finishing them off you are finally able to shut down the AA weapons.  With the AA weapons down the Normandy can bring in the nuke.  You tell Kaiden to meet you at the rendezvous point.  He is pinned down with the crew he is with.  Once again you will have to make a choice, Ashley or Kaiden.

If losing one of your team members was not enough the timing of Saren showing up definitely does not make things better.  Saren believes the only way to save himself and others is to work with the reapers.  This is why he has been doing the things he has.  The worst part about it is that he believes he is doing the right thing.  After the conversation ends there is a battle between your crew and Saren.  Do what ever you can to attack him, but make sure to find cover.  After the battle you will enter the end mission cut scene...

Next up: Return to the Citadel.

Mass Effect: Virmire Part 1

May Contain Spoilers!

This planet has to be the exact opposite of Noveria.  Blue skies and sand beaches everywhere make this planet very pleasing to the eye.  Now to find the salarian reconnaissance team that has sent out their distress call.  All we know at this point is they have information on Saren.

As you approach Virmire, you are dropped onto the planet with the Mako... Now going 4 for 4 using the Mako on planets you have traveled to.  Your objective, to shut down the AA guns so that the Normandy can land. 

Traveling in the Mako you come across three separate Gatehouses that are swarming with Geth.  In order to get past the gates you will need to get out of the Mako and fight your way through the Geth and activate the gate in the gatehouse.  This applies for all gatehouses.  Once again you can use the Mako to kill enemies in passing, or take the route I did and just take a nice Sunday drive past everything.

You will soon reach the Salarian Camp and come into contact with Captain Kirrahe.  He informs you that he has found Saran's Research Facility.  It has been discovered that Saren has found a cure for the genophage (the hereditary virus which causes only one in a thousand krogan offspring to survive) and is now breeding a Krogan Army!

Having a Krogan in your party does not make things any easier.  Wrex (the Krogan in your party) is torn on what needs to be done.  On one hand he knows that Saren needs to be stopped at any cost.  On the other he has a chance to bring a cure that would repopulate his race.

There are a couple different ways you can take care of this.  I personally chose to talk Wrex down from the ledge by informing him that even though there is this cure, these Krogan would be slaves to Saren and they need to be destroyed in order to defeat Saren.  In order to go the route I did you would need to have your charm or intimidate leveled enough.  The other option would be to kill Wrex.  This option might be the only one available given the circumstances.

With all the drama with Wrex completed you can start to prepare for the assault.  Captain Kirrahe has a plan, he is going to use his ships drive core as a nuke to blow up the facility.  It needs to be airlifted into the facility but someone will need to go in and disable the AA guns.  Captain Kirrahe suggests two teams, your team to sneak in and disarm the AA weapons, and his which will provide cover and distraction in the front.  The lack of ground troops he has is a concern and asks for one of your crew members and you have to decide between Ashley and Kaiden....

Next up: Virmire Part 2!