I love the Petrified Forest ending, it's over the top but I think it's very funny (very easy to reach, just be a jerk to all women)

How do you even get a good ending? I stayed true to Chelsee, letting down all other women gently, and still got Petrified Forest. Do my responses to other characters have got something to do with it? It's impossible to tell which ones are "evil" responses due to Tex's snarky sense of humour even if he means nothing bad.

That is not the perfect ending.

For the perfect ending you need to be OBSESSED with Chelsee and make sure to pick her option starting from the first time she is mentioned at Louie's diner on Day 1!

The path for Chelsee is 'Somewhere I'll Find You' (hit ESC to see the path you are on).

I wasn't even aiming for the perfect ending; I wouldn've been satisfied with an average one. But getting the Petrified Forest after trying to stay true to Chelsee and treat everyone kindly leaves me with the feeling that I've been shafted. I've had a look at some Tex Murphy forums – it turns out that the second scene at the police station is the pivotal one. I happened to choose my responses in the wrong order, and that somehow doomed me to the worst ending. This is not good game design. The same issue was present in The Pandora Directive – you can only get the best ending if you select a specific sequence of responses during your first conversation with Chelsee. How are players supposed to know that without walkthroughs?

The names of the paths meant nothing to me since I was playing for the first time and without spoilers.

The Chelsee ending of course. ;) I got the Chelsee ending without a guide on my first playthrough. It's not that tough to figure out the path names. Just keep asking about Chelsee and reject the other two women at every turn no matter how hard they try to seduce you.