Who really are the 'good guys' in PS2?

They're neither bad, nor good. You play with the faction that has the idealogy you agree with.

The core of the fight between the three factions is access to the Vanu technology.

Soon after the collapse of the wormhole leading to Earth, the Terran Republic discovered Vanu technology, which led to the rebirth facilities - immortality, in other words. The TR viewed the technology as dangerous and a potential destabilizing threat towards future colonies on Auraxis. Consequently, they locked down access to the technology and became "oppressive".

The first faction to break away was the Vanu Sovereignty. They're basically a cult that worship the technology of the Vanu. They fight for access to the technology to conduct research into further developments that - in their view - will lead to the development of the human race. The Terran Republic fought back to protect the technology from falling into VS hands.

The second faction to break away was the New Conglomerate. The NC is a collection of private corporations ALSO fighting for access to the technology. Their primary goal, however, is the fall of the Terran Republic and its "overbearing and draconian" regulations. The New Conglomerate views the Vanu Sovereignity as another threat to the free will of humanity, and sees the VS's practices of modifying the human race as evil. Consequently, the NC also attacked the VS.

So now you have a three way war in which nobody dies.

Yup.

the factions are played so they each have their "good" and "evil" and it really boils down to what "Evil" you are willing to tolerate.

to go for the extreme negatives of each faction:

TR: You are the empire, fanatic, your entire being and purpose is to serve the empire, if they say jump you've already did 50, they say die, you charge in without a second thought, you are inconsequential but the empire will live on and you will kill all who will stand in the way.

NC: You were paid well, that's all you need, it doesn't matter where or what or who, but if they want a bullet in someone's head they'll get it because you'll be damned if you have anything better to do. You'll even back stab ad sabotage your own teammates if it means you can get ahead, freedom, chaos, mercenary, you hope this war never ends, because that'd be bad for business.

VS: You are a social darwinist and eugenicist, anyone else who hasn't joined the vanu is inferior, how can they not see what is in front of their eyes? No matter, they'll be reduced to ashes. and their bones will be the foundation of a new world order

And on the flipside:

TR: You are the only sane one on this planet, the NC squabble and the vanu play with things far beyond their understanding, despite once being your brothers you have to kill, to restore order, to get back home, We cannot stand to continue divided.

NC: Whatever ideologies the TR once held have been dashed upon the rocks of tyranny. You now fight to gain back the free utopia you once had

VS: You are a scientist, an explorer, all consumed by the pursuit of knowledge, naturally when given the opportunity to work with theonly other intelligent civilization known to man presented itself, who wouldn't take it? Why are they back pedalling away from such technology? We have conquered death! Can we not conquer our physical forms? Break the ever constant cycle of conflict? We must stop this war so all can work on bettering ourselves.

With no knowledge of the lore from PS1 I would have to agree with what everyone else here has overwhelmingly said: no one faction is purely “good” or entirely “evil”. Like the real world these factions exist in a moral grey area, and ultimately whether you view one faction as being more “good” than others will depend on your own philosophical standing.

The Vanu are transhumanists to the core, through the use of technology and knowledge they desire to alter the human condition. They seek to overcome the limitations of the current human form and to directly and deliberately evolve humanity into something which can only be called “posthuman”. Now the ethical dilemma, the enormous philosophical ramifications of this philosophy are obvious even to its supporters. Again this position is not inherently “good” or “bad” such a value call is dependent on your own philosophy.

The New Conglomerate are capitalists to the core, the freer the market the freer the people. They see the interests of humanity as being best served when people are not only free but also receive the sweat from the brow without having it “stolen” by government. It would be an unfair stretch I think to describe them as Libertarian, they sit rather somewhere between Libertarianism and Liberalism. Now when does the liberty that the NC worship become licence and when does capitalism cease to become a force for the good of the many and a tool for plutocrats, are the dilemmas facing the NC. Again this is not a faction that is not wholly “good” or wholly “evil”.

Finally the Terran Republic, collectivist and consequentialist to the bitter end. Here the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, the morality of any action by their philosophy is determined by the outcome and whether this outcome promoted the most good for the most people. The downfalls of this standpoint is obvious, for instance it is pointless to talk of individual rights as they are always superseded by the needs of the many. At what point does this utilitarian position become no more than a tyranny of the majority is an important question facing those who would side with the TR. Again though it is not a position which is wholly without merit but neither is it entirely with merit.

Sorry for the lengthy post, philosophy major so subjects such as this fascinate me.

Nobody is good of them, since all of them are only doing wars.

We, TR, are evil. Feel the weight of our boots!

This is well-thought out, interesting read.

I think the idea that this is a world set in space, with the kind of technology available really changes this discussion too.

People think of the Vanu as "creepy" or "inhuman" but the conditions of this universe imply humanity has already transcended its boundaries. We can go to ******* space! People can be brought back to life. Anybody who says Vanu are trying to alter humanity into something unnatural is clearly too late.

Rejecting technology when its right in front of us is not the answer: technology is just a tool, the problem lies with systemic injustices built into political systems.

Advanced alien technology could cure illnesses, feed the hungry, provide limitless energy and expand the horizons of our knowledge. Nobody who has had to deal with any of those problems would refuse that.

Altering humankind's natural bodies? ****, we alter them all the time. People with disabilities use wheelchairs. People hang-glide and parachute because we can't fly, or strap skates to our feet when we want to traverse ice. Altering our biology might sound scary at first but really, consider how limited and fragile the human frame is.

Most hatred for the VS philosophy seems to come out of an association with the color purple. Personally, I think the VS look stupid and culty myself, they remind me of those guys from Dude Where's my Car? who wear the bubble wrap suits. But aside from the irrational vibe that they are 'creepy', their philosophy is superior and much more consistent with the realities of a universe that has access to the aforementioned technologies.

On a side note,

IMO the Terran Republic's condemnation of certain technologies does not appear to be the benevolent actions of ruler protecting its people from dangerous knowledge; it (probably) stems from a fear that technology will advance humankind to a point where it is ungovernable.

And the deregulated capitalism the NC demand might not be as big of a problem in limitless space as it is on our cramped, resource-depleted Earth. But it might be, who the hell knows.

It's kind of up to the player

I like to think of the corporations as a means to an end, how else would a bunch of miners and mercenaries hope to fight the world's mightiest military?

In any case I hardly consider killing innocent protesters and bystanders (who were protesting the blatant elimination of human rights by the TR) "good"

This is basically asking why do or dont you like a certain faction. Good guys/ Bad guys is subjective to personal opinion.

I joined Vanu hoping that it would only appeal to adults,mature people and sane people. Sadly I was disappointed when this anti-kiddy filter did not succeed completely but atleast to some extent

JOIN THE TR! you wont regret it mate

I dont know man... i'm pretty sure all those rich ***** who run **** in America know that what they are doing is greedy and ****, but they keep on doing it.

Well, when it comes to NC versus TR they are really polar opposites of each other. The best comparison to these two empires would be the Yen and the Yang because everything about these guys are opposites.

Their idealogies
NC -> Freedom and chaos
TR -> Control and peace

Their weapons:
NC-> Slow and powerful
Tr-> Fast and Weak

Their colour scheme:
NC-> Blue
TR-> Red
*Note: Red versus Blue is a usual team color designation

Their armor scheme:

NC-> Uncordinated, messy
TR-> Cordinated, proper

So really, the TR versus NC are the immovable objects met the unstopabble forces, they cancel each other out.

The Vanu though...well...the developers will never admit to this but they are not as fleshed out, though it's really hard to create polar opposites in a three way, so all the Vanu are is just elitist snobs that found some laser guns. In my opinion anyway.

I picked 70% on aesthetics & 30% ideology. Shallow I know.

Actually no, mine is correct with the lore of the game. The NC wants to rebel with their corporate support, but are actually oppressing the VS, hence oppressive freedom loving rebels. The TR wants to take your freedom hence freedom taking empire. The VS just wants to research technology and wants to be left alone, hence alien researching scientists. If the TR and NC would stop fighting against the VS tomorrow, we would stop fighting the day after. We don't want to fight, but the others are forcing us to.

See how the truth works? Over lies? Or cheap fixed fixed posts? Yeah.

Go team VS!

Nanite Systems is the warmonger and should be destroyed.

Absolutely correct, seeing as they are the ONLY ones that actually win from this war.

Vanu are clearly the 'good guys'. It's obvious.

3 factions MASS killing each other over pieces of land with no concern for anyone of their victims..Is there a 'good guy' in that situation?

Interesting perspective, I was thinking the same, the story of the TR reads like it transformed from one of an American-style republic to one of an authoritarian command government (i.e. Communist China) flexing its might to maintain order in society. The presence of the Mao Tech Plant (or Amp station? I forget) on one of the continents was an interesting naming choice and kind of supports that, IMO.