There's no denying that an important component of escape games is the inclusion of logical, creative puzzles to reward players' sleuthing efforts with a sense of accomplishment. Still, all by themselves, puzzles are just puzzles, things easily bought in printed periodicals at the checkout counter. Really good escape games embed puzzles into fun environments, creating the idea of occupying an interesting place, one you'd want to immerse yourself in and explore to your heart's content. Yonashi's Sea Room is just such a place, filled with unabashed playfulness and a sense of whimsy that readily infects your mood with smiles. As you point-and-click your way around the various chambers, unlocking doors and solving puzzles, you almost don't want the experience to end.
As escaping is the goal, though, you won't encounter much to keep you from reaching the exit. Most the puzzles are straight-forward, focused on amusing clue presentations more than taxing your mental stamina. The interface is intuitive: grey bars with arrows at the edges of the scene indicate where and when you can turn or back up while a changing cursor directs you towards areas where you can move forward or look closer. Even so, a portion of the challenge comes from navigating the multiple round rooms without losing track of where you are or how to get back to a needed item. There's also a hard-to-find pixel, which might tempt you to brute-force a certain code. That pink starfish is out there, though; just think of places where starfish might stick. A handful of codes to break, a memory minigame and adventuresome item-use puzzles mean it'll take about 15 minutes to get out. As in Rain, you must infer what to do based on the non-verbal clues. But that adds to the playful quality in a way that reminds me of Graffiti 2. Sea Room is like a child's imagination come to life—brimming full of sweet whimsy, all set to prove what is good and happy about playing in an undersea world.
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough
This gives the normal (perhaps only?) ending.
Examine the bathtub. Maybe you should pull the plug?
Note the code: 591.
Click the bit of brown visible on the left to look at the chest. Notice that the numbers are exactly the same color as the water in the tub.
Get the squid.
If you're very observant, you'll notice that the chest has a '10' on it. (A squid has 10 tentacles.)
Examine the critter you just obtained. Squish it a bit. Hmm, black ink, huh?
Use the squid on the wall above the tub, as the drop of ink indicates.
Note the code: (2,4) (3,5) (1,6) (7)
Check if there's anything in the black boot.
Examine the blue starfish carefully.
The dot at the lower right end is bigger than the others.
Click the fish that's just visible on the right to look at it more closely.
Click the fish basically anywhere to get a blue fish scale.
Turn around. Examine the shells on the shelf. I wonder if a particular sequence of opening them will result in something?
Use the squid code from the wall to open the shells. Get the key.
Examine the lamprey-shaped whatever that thing is on the right. I guess you'll need to keep an eye out for another lamprey-shaped item with a face.
Use the key on the door and go into the next room.
Jars of water labeled 10 and 8. Strange.
Examine the fish.
Click the fish to get a red scale.
Turn right. Take a careful look at the stairs.
There's a clickable spot just to the right of the stairs. Examine the pink starfish and notice which arm has the bigger dot.
lower left
You should be able to open the door without any further clues.
Didn't say it would be easy, mind you, just that you don't need any clues. The code is the same each time, so you can eventually learn it.
green, pink, pink, blue, green, yellow
blue, pink, yellow, yellow, blue, green
pink, yellow, green, blue, yellow, blue
Colorblind: green = top left, pink = top right, yellow = bottom left, blue = bottom right.
Turn right. Examine the green starfish.
Note which arm has the bigger dot.
top right
You should be able to open the wooden chest now.
Use the starfish code. Colorblind: the first dial is pink, the second dial is blue, the third dial is green. Get the scuba gear.
Examine the big shell. It has squares that turn yellow.
Turn back to the "simon says" door and go outside. Big expanse of water, eh? Maybe those items you just obtained would come in handy?
Use the scuba gear to enter the water.
One of those bubbles is not like the others...
Keep a finger near your "print screen" key as you click the bubble. As soon as the lamprey turns its underside towards you, take a screen capture. Alternatively, just keep clicking that bubble until you're reasonably sure you've memorized the face.
Turn right. Nothing you can do here yet.
Turn right. Hmm, five dots.
Click the dots to see some yellow worms of differing heights. Note said heights.
Number of stripes: 0, 3, 1, 4, 2
You now have two new clues. Perhaps you should go use them?
Turn right once more to the ladder and click it to go up. Click the door to go back in the room.
Worms first.
Turn to the big shell and click the buttons to match the worms. Zero stripes means first square lit, one stripe means two squares lit, etc. Get the gloves.
Now the lamprey.
Go back to the first room and turn to the lamprey-shaped whatever it is. Make the face match the one in the water. Get the brown key.
Two clicks on each eye, three clicks on the mouth.
Maybe now that useless scene won't be so useless.
Go back under the water and turn right once from the ladder. Use the gloves on the puffer fish to get a spike. Use the key to open the jar and get the octopus.
If you're observant, you'll note that the jar has an 8 on it, which is logical, since an octopus obviously has 8 tentacles.
Take stock of your inventory. Where else have you seen a 10 and an 8?
Go put your squid in the jar labeled 10 and the octopus in the jar labeled 8.
Go into the new room and look around. Really around.
Look up and notice the balloon.
Perhaps you should combine your remaining items? Well, OK, maybe not the scuba gear...
First combine the two fish scales, then add them to the puffer fish spike to make a dart.
Use the dart on the balloon, silly child.
Get the key.
Find the thing that fell.
Turn around to see the blue key on the ground.
Well, there's really only one thing you can do with a lever like that.
Open the blue panel and pull the lever. Click "yes" when it asks whether you're sure.
Posted by: Reka
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July 1, 2014 10:23 PM