Well, I can't help but do the "good guy" ending. I've beaten Armored Core VI, by which I mean I've gotten one of the three endings. Upon finishing the final mission, you immediately get booted back into new game +, but you don't really lose anything - you can still replay any missions you'd done during your first playthrough, still have the parts and OS chips you got on the first go around, but any missions that call for a decision can now be done the other way.
I haven't actually played any of those yet.
Spoilers Ahead.
The story of ACVI is one of many different factions and plans piling up. My basic understanding is that you've got more or less the following factions: The RLF, or Rubicon Liberation Front, which is composed of locals who want independence and freedom for their devastated world (and are, I think, the only really unambiguously "good" faction.) Balam is one of two major corporate conglomerates vying for power on the planet, and has a squad of AC pilots known as the Red Guns. Arquebus is the other corporation, which has its own squadron known as the Vespers. The PCA, or Planetary Closure Administration, is, I believe, a government agency whose job is to actually keep people off of Rubicon after the devastating Fires of Ibis, and basically everyone hates them (but they're also probably the best-equipped and manned). RaD is a faction of engineers and criminals whose motivations are... well, we learn more about them over the course of the game. Finally, there's the Institute, which is actually a kind of posthumous faction that was researching the Coral on Rubicon and got into a whole lot of unethical mad science - including the creation of augmented humans like your character. Finally, there's Handler Walter, who gets you missions and basically uses your for his own agenda. Well, and then there's Ayre, a "Rubiconian" who speaks in your head because, well, actually, she's a sentience within the substance known as Coral - the resource all of these factions are fighting over, which is actually an intelligent form of alien life.
Now, I think the sequence of events can change based on the missions you choose to take, but the game starts, after your illegal entry onto the planet, with you doing mercenary work for the corporations, largely fighting against the RLF to seize the planet and its resources. In the midst of this scramble, the corps draw the ire of the PCA, and Arquebus and Balam team up to take down the PCA's hold on the planet. Shortly thereafter, Arquebus turns on Balam, seizing the PCA's advanced technology to drive Balam off the planet. Arquebus arranges to have you killed, along with a Vesper with whom you've developed a bond, and even captures you after the hardest boss fight in the game, forcing you to escape from them. However, with the help of RaD, you're able to escape, and you embark upon a plan with "Cinder" Carla, the leader of RaD, to use a city that is actually a flying vessel to destroy the vast reserve of Coral now floating above the planet, which Arquebus wants to use for its research.
Here, there's a decision to be made - you can help with Walter and Carla's true plan - to wipe out Coral and save humanity from the alien life form's desire to change humanity, or you can help Ayre stop their plot.
I went with Ayre, which meant less credits for the missions, and furthermore meant that the final boss was Walter - previously thought dead, but seemingly resurrected in a Coral-fueled AC (his speech patterns imply that he's not 100% there, mentally). It has a tragic tone because Walter, while he initially treats you like a tool to be used, does seem to gain a degree of respect and affection for you over the course of the game.
It's interesting: while the corporate factions are basically irredeemable, there are members within them who have a kind of honor. Rusty, one of the Vespers, is a stalwart, honorable brother-in-arms, even when you have to fight him (though defeating him does not mean he's dead). Snail, the second in command of the Vespers, on the other hand, is probably the most loathsome character in the game. But the ultimate decision is a little more morally ambiguous. Or rather, the "evil" ending is not born out of pure greed or hatred. Walter believes he's saving humanity by destroying the Coral.
I know there will be new missions in New Game +, and not only because you can make different decisions. I'll be curious to see what they're like.
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