Unofficial Tex Murphy

I would put myself between a "casual player" and a "gamer". I try to solve all the puzzles, but I don't want them blocking me from completing the game, so I'll revert to a hint system (remember those great game guide books?). So, I played Tesla as a casual player, so I wouldn't get stuck.

Maybe that's why I'm puzzled and disappointed. Maybe you can help me.

1) Paths? What paths? I couldn't choose a path, and I don't see how any dialogue choices would put you down one path or another anyway. So what's the deal with the paths? What are the paths anyway? Does it even make a difference in how the game ends or is played?

2) The ending was confusing and unsatisfying. Tex is arrested for the murder of Slade, but that's followed by a scene at a Texas roadhouse dump. Tex and Sapphyre ride off into the sunset. What gives?

3) And what about Chelsea? Yeah, they talk about her, not being a mutant, faking her death, etc. But there wasn't a conclusion at all. It's just dropped. Never did see a scene with Chelsea, if there even is one. This was the most frustrating and disappointing of all.

4) I couldn't even figure out the directions on how to work the spirit radio frequency puzzle. There were other puzzles where I found the directions confrustrating too.

I don't know what to do. If I play in gamer mode I'm bound to get stuck. But it seems casual mode is full of problems and "I won't get no satisfaction." Or, maybe, this game is as bad as I feel it is. Holy P.I. In The Sky I hope not.

Yes, there are paths. You don't get to select them explicitly; you wind up on different paths by the choices you make to dialogue boxes.

Be aware, there are spoilers in what follows.



In Tex's office, when talking to Taylor, if you reject her by choosing the option to remain faithful to Chelsea, that will put you on the path to seeing Chelsea at the end. There are 2 Chelsea endings. If you keep choosing to stay faithful to Chelsea whenever there is an option to do so, you should wind up on the path everyone was pretty much hoping for; the one where you find Chelsea and there is finally a resolution to the relationship.

You can tell what path your on by hitting the Esc key and looking at the popup menu. In the bottom right corner of the popup the current path is shown. If it says "Someday I'll Find You" then you're on the Chelsea path.

Chandler wrote:Yes, there are paths. You don't get to select them explicitly; you wind up on different paths by the choices you make to dialogue boxes.

Be aware, there are spoilers in what follows.



In Tex's office, when talking to Taylor, if you reject her by choosing the option to remain faithful to Chelsea, that will put you on the path to seeing Chelsea at the end. There are 2 Chelsea endings. If you keep choosing to stay faithful to Chelsea whenever there is an option to do so, you should wind up on the path everyone was pretty much hoping for; the one where you find Chelsea and there is finally a resolution to the relationship.

You can tell what path your on by hitting the Esc key and looking at the popup menu. In the bottom right corner of the popup the current path is shown. If it says "Someday I'll Find You" then you're on the Chelsea path.

Thanks much, but I feel positive that I made that choice, so I must have screwed up somewhere after that.

The scene with Taylor isn't the only one you have to make to get the Chelsea ending. There are other opportunities to show your loyalty to her, particularly one with Ariel. Just remember, if Chelsea is in one of the dialogue options be sure to choose it: e.g. when talking to Danwiecz.

Correction to get on the Cheslee path it's starts even earlier with your first conversation with Louie. You must ask about Cheslee during your conversation first chance you get.

Basically you can choose to be with one of the 3 ladies for 3 different endings. You can do what you did and don't choose to be with any of the ladies as well.

I personally miss trying to get good guy points.

True sam but, basically, it's still the case that you need to pick the Chelsea option whenever there is one, correct?

Yes you must be very single-minded about Cheslee everytime you talk to any one. I just wanted to emphasize that it's pretty early on that you cam fall off that path.

That Chelsea demands a lot of attention, doesn't she

She's the Princess Peach to our Mario.

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My first work through of the game, I ended up at the same point you did. Tex being arrested and then later riding off with Sapphyre. This leaves me with a oppressively hopeless, negative overall impression of the game.

This ending/path of Tesla Effect lacked any of the charm of Under A Killing Moon.

(OK. Film Noir is suppose to be grim. But at some point in the morality-play, one is suppose to begin to develop empathy toward at least one of the characters.) Throughout the game I was struck by how actually grim the path Tex (with the choices I made) was on. Perhaps the programmers designed the game to be so reflective/reactive. But I had no empathy toward the TEX as he went about his business. But then again, would a hard-boiled PI care about others' feelings?

Hopefully when I go back and replay the game, I will discover some of the boyish Tex Murphy charm that originally captured me and made me want to return and play other Tex games.

Ema Nymton
~@:o?
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I can understand your disappointment. I remember the first time I played Pandora I got the Holodate ending. It was okay but I felt unsatisfied. When I got the Mission Street ending, it made up for it in bounds. The Chelsee ending for Tesla Effect is great and should soften your hearts when you see it. It made the long wait for me worth it.

There is a dialogue option that occurs at The Retreat (the big scene where Ariel and Taylor may or may not meet each other) which is called "Stay True To Your Girl". This refers to Taylor, which, misleadingly, made me fall off the Chelsee path on my first playthrough.

Because I thought Chelsee would be The Girl in that context.

-Fred

I got my copy from Steam with the free pass code that was emailed me. If you go to the Steam Community site for Tesla there are lots of play throughs listed including how to get all the possible endings. The first time I played through I got the Taylor ending without doing anything special. This go through I'm doing Chelsee and only days 1, 2, 3, & 7 are important to staying on this path.

Gary to answer your other question - the controls for the spirit frequencies are explained when you line up the satellites at the Tesla Legacy society. In short, turn the first dial until the colour changes, turn the second line until it does so again. The third dial has only three settings - one for each of the frequencies. Turn that to move to the next frequency pane once you have got the frequencies showing a blue line (or red for the last bit).

So there are two Chelsee endings? I've done one so far and one for Taylor which I liked too. The Saffyre one I will try and get but only after I've played the Ariel one first.

The good Cheslee path is called 'Somewhere I'll Find You'

The other one is called 'To Have and Have Not' which I've not played but the title leads me to believe you find her but don't end up with her. I'm guessing.