Find the Escape Men 43: EM-taro
For those of a certain age, the Saturday morning serial (whether you saw it on TV before the Tarzan movies or at the movies along with a cartoon and newsreel) is a wonderful thing, an episodic mini-movie designed to leave you at the edge of your seat awaiting the next installment. Room escape games have their own version of a serial that never ends, and No1Game is back with the next episode, Find the Escape-Men 43: EM-taro. This time around it won't be pretty!
Actually it will be pretty since the lovely traditional Japanese room the game takes place in is a serene concoction of wood and tatami, populated by a classic fire-pit and suspended cook pot. Find the Escape-Men 43: EM-taro is, as implied by the title, the 43rd episode in the grander scheme of things, finding those green running stick figures you see on exit signs around the world. Why do you need to find them? Duh, because they show you the way out! Finding those elusive men won't be easy, as it involves solving some puzzles, poking around, and making use of some found objects. The usual navigation arrows/bars help you explore the space as you search for those elusive guys wherever they may be hiding.
Find the Escape-Men 43: EM-taro is bilingual and can be played in both English and Japanese. The inventory system is easy to figure out and the puzzles are fun and not too simple. If there is a criticism to be leveled it is that No1Game has eschewed the use of a changing cursor, leading to some pixel hunting. Think of Find the Escape-Men 43: EM-taro not as a feature film but as a lovely animated short, something to hold your attention for ten minutes or so and provide a lovely mid-week break.
Walkthrough Guide
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Find the Escape-Men 43: EM-taro Walkthrough
General Information
Make sure to change the language before you start the game.
There are 10 escape men to find, as is usual for one of these games.
Like their counterparts in the real world, the escape men will point the way out.
Make sure to examine everything you pick up, items may hide clues.
There will be directions for the color-blind in the walkthrough.
There is only one ending.
Good luck!
Exploration
You begin the game facing an open door. Not much of an escape if there's an easy way out, is it?
Wait and contemplate the pretty scenery. Pretty soon a familiar looking farmer will pass by, click on the farmer (escape-man 1).
Now click on the open doorway to see the little garden.
There is a nice planting here, notice the plants. There is a large stick lying on the ground below the plants, take it.
Also note that the scarecrow is an escape-man. Take him (escape-man 2).
Back up.
Note that when looking through the open doorway you can just barely see some barrels on the right side of the door. Click on the barrels for a close up.
There are three barrels here, you can click on them and they will lift up, but there doesn't appear to be anything underneath.
Wait, there's a pattern on the wall. Could it be a clue?
Back up into the room.
Now click on the left side of the sliding door to the outdoors to close it.
Click on the left side again to open the sliding door on the other side. Hey, there's some stuff out there, let's explore!
Click on the now open left side of the doorway to go forward.
Out here there is a large jar with a lid, but you can't open it. There is also a wooden table with a small piece of wood on top, and a ladle below. Take the ladle.
Click on the small piece of wood on the table to lift it up, then click again to reveal the escape-man (escape-man 3).
Back up and turn right.
You are now facing a wall. On the left a strange object is hanging from a suspended piece of wood over a table. On the right is a strange pattern of colored dots.
Click on the strange hanging object to take it (gourd). While the gourd is in close up click on it to open it, then click again to turn it upside down.
The gourd will drop out several objects. Click on the objects to take them (round things).
Click on the table below where the gourd was hanging. Looks like a 3 x 3 grid of round holes. Back up.
Click on the colored dots for a close up.
Look closely at the green dot in the top middle, do you see the outline of an escape-man?
Click on the dot to bring the escape-man into focus, then take him (escape-man 4).
Note the code lock below the dots which features shapes. Back up and turn right.
You are now facing a wall with masks on the left and a scroll hanging on the right.
The masks are a dog, a cat, and a parrot. And there's a large...what is that thing in the right corner?
Click on the masks for a close up.
Click on each mask individually and they drop down, revealing some colored dots and arrows.
The first mask, the dog, shows the following dots: green, blue, pink, purple, black, and green.
The middle mask, the cat, shows: blue, orange, yellow, black, and blue.
The right mask, the parrot, shows: red, orange, blue, red.
Back up.
Click on the low table below the masks. Looks like a 3 digit code. Click on the code buttons and you will see dots appear over the faint escape-men. Hmmm, those look like dice. Back up.
Click on the hanging scroll for a close up.
Hey, there's something at the top of the scroll!
Use the stick you got from the garden to get the object (another scroll).
Click on the scroll to open it and you will see a picture: water plus something else in a bowl = ?
Click on that patch on the right of the scroll and you will see six dots and another escape-man. Take the escape-man (escape-man 5).
Close down the scroll and back up.
You can click on that...thing in the right corner, but it only moves slightly and doesn't reveal anything.
Turn right.
You are now facing some clothes hanging from the ceiling. There is a small hole in the wall below and left of the outfit. To the right is a fire pit and a hanging pot.
Click on the clothes several times to dislodge the escape-man hiding there (escape-man 6).
Click on the hole for a close up.
There's an escape-man in the hole, but he's hard to catch. Note the empty bowl in front of the hole. Back up.
Click on the hanging pot for a close up. There's an escape-man in there, but he's caught somehow and you can't take him.
Back up and turn right.
You are now back at the beginning. Time to solve some puzzles!
The Barrels
Click on the left side of the sliding door to close it, then click on the right side to open the side where the garden and the barrels are.
Click on the barrels for a close up.
Maybe the pattern on the wall above will help?
Note the pattern of the dots, the dots are either on the left, in the middle, or on the right.
Just like the position of the barrels.
The lines between the dots are the order.
Using the pattern, click on the barrels in the following order: left, middle, left, right, middle, left.
When you lift the last barrel you will find another escape-man (escape-man 7).
Back up.
The 3 x 3 Grid Puzzle
Turn right to face the wall with the colored dots.
Click on that low table on the left for a close up.
Where have we seen a pattern like that?
The garden is laid out in that 3 x 3 pattern.
And some of the plants have round fruit, just like the holes in the table.
And there are five plants with fruit, and you just happen to have 5 round things from the gourd.
But look closely, there's a twist.
Notice the stick in the back left corner of the grid?
There is also a stick like that in the garden, the one where the escape-man was being a scarecrow.
But that stick was in the back right corner.
Therefore, you need to take the garden pattern of fruit and rotate it left (counter-clockwise) 90 degrees so that the sticks match.
Place your objects in the left middle hole, the middle-middle hole, the bottom middle hole, the upper right hole, and the lower right hole.
If you solve the puzzle the chest will open revealing a large plate, take it and back up.
The Colored Dots Puzzle
Click on the colored dots on the right side of the wall for a close up.
There is a line of dots down the left side, orange, purple, white, and blue.
The upper middle dot is green.
On the right side going down is red, pink, yellow, and black.
Where have we seen these colors in the room?
The colored dots behind the masks are the clue.
If you draw an imaginary line between the dots following the pattern behind the masks, each one makes a shape.
The first mask, the dog, had green, blue, pink, purple, black, and green.
If you draw lines between those colors you get a shape: a five pointed star.
The second mask, the cat, had blue, orange, yellow, black, and blue.
If you draw the lines between those colors you get a trapezoid (an uneven four-sided shape).
The third mask had red, orange, blue, and red.
Draw lines between those colors and you get a triangle.
Set the buttons to the shapes you just discovered using the dots.
If you set the buttons correctly, two objects will fall into the slot, a bag and a handle. Take them both.
Back up.
The Hanging Pot
Turn left to face the doorway.
Close the right side of the door, then open the left.
Click on the large jar for a close up.
Click on the top of the jar for a close up.
Place the handle on the lid. You can now open the jar.
Lift the lid to see water.
Use the ladle to get some water and back up twice.
Click on the hanging pot for a close up.
Use the water on the pot to free the escape-man (escape-man 8).
Back up.
The Hole in the Wall
Now how do we get the escape man in the hole in the wall?
Remember the scroll, it had a clue.
Adding water to something in a bag in a large bowl.
We have a bowl (or, rather, a large plate), a bag of flour, and a ladle to get water.
Click on the jar twice for a close up.
Open the lid and get water with the ladle.
Close down the ladle and pull up the plate from your inventory.
Use the bag of flour and the ladle of water on the bowl.
Click on the concoction and you will make...EM dumplings.
Close down the dumplings and back up twice.
Turn left to face the clothes, then click on the hole for a close-up.
Use the dumplings on the bowl in front of the hole then back up.
Click on the hole again and you can now get the greedy escape-man (escape-man 9).
Back up.
Winning the Game
Now where is the last escape-man?
Maybe he's hiding in our inventory?
Pull up the sack of flour from your inventory.
Click on it to open and you will find the last escape-man (escape-man 10).
Note that as soon as you get the last escape-man they rearrange themselves.
Watch closely, they form a group of four, another group of four, and a group of two.
Turn left to face the wall with the masks.
Click on the low table below the masks for a close up.
The escape-men just gave us the dice pattern, 4, 4, 2.
Click on the buttons to make the pattern of dice, click the large button beneath them, and the chest will open, revealing a giant knife.
Click on the giant knife. The giant knife will cut open the...thing in the corner, revealing a giant escape-man.
Congratulations!
Posted by: grinnyp | November 14, 2012 2:07 AM