Taiji – Secret Achievement Guide (+ Puzzle Solutions)

Tips to solving the puzzles for the hidden “White” achievement. Instead of outright answers, you’ll get a series of hints to help if you are struggling but still keep the feeling of exploration for yourself.

Finding the Puzzles

1. Try places you haven’t visited for a while
2. It’s somewhere in the starting area. South of the central sundial where you track your progress.
3. Look for two lanterns on the side of a mountain. How could you get to them?
4. It has something to do with the first puzzle you’ve solved in the game
5. Those floating islands have a funny shape
6. The islands are seemingly made of marvel and dirt
7. Seemingly the second and third islands shapes match the statues on them

Full Solution

Go to the starting point of the game (south of the central sundial). The first three starting islands are made of marvel and dirt and they are arranged in a 2×3 shape. Marble blocks represent white blocks and dirt blocks represent gray blocks. Take the first island’s shape and figure out how the first puzzle would look like it you solved it like that instead of using the statue that’s on it. Now you can go down the path and find the secrets there.

General Tips

• All solutions are based on the environment and not simple puzzles you find
• All solutions utilize the mechanics learned in the corresponding puzzle section in some way
• Look at the shapes and dimensions of the grids before looking for the answers
• If you are stuck on one, try and solve another instead of spending hours walking around
• Use a notebook to take notes and test ideas

The Portal

1. Did you know you can use the shapes you used to solve the 3×3 map segment puzzles to teleport around?
2. The solution grid seems to be 9×9
3. All portals require a 3×3 solution
4. There is a 3×3 grid with familiar shapes above you
5. The shapes above you refer to one zone each on the map

Solution

Each teleporter has a 3×3 shape. Each zone has its teleporter. Each symbol on the board above you refers to a zone and its teleporter. Arrange the 3×3 shapes of the teleporters in the 9×9 grid according to the corresponding symbols’ arrangement on the board above you.

Top Left / Mines

1. Two perspectives might be necessary
2. The solution has to do with the water area
3. The catwalks around the water have a peculiar shape
4. Those signs remind me of something
5. The raft fits this body of water very well
6. Make sure to look from the top

Solution

If you look at the catwalks down in the mine around the body of water, they seem to have a 5×6 shape just like the blocks on the solution. The missing parts in the middle are from the raft. The diamonds are also there from the raft as well as the signs on top mean diamonds. If you go above this area you will find signs there too. They are also stars. If you solve the grid using those you’ll get the solution.

Top Center / Graveyard

1. The shape of the solution looks an awful like the other puzzle solutions in the cemetery don’t you think?
2. You’ll have to solve another XOR type puzzle to get your answer
3. There are some smaller tombstones with two distinct markings on them
4. There are several clusters of these small tombstones located on different elevations in groups of 8. (extra tip: when you xor multiple 1s and 0s, if you have an odd number of 1s it’s a 1 otherwise a 0)
5. Some series of tombstones seem to have a rock on either side

Solution

There are smaller tombstones with 0 and 1 like markings on them in the graveyard area. There are multiple levels of these with 8 in a row. You have to XOR these together but pay attention to the line direction! Some rows have a small rock on one side, just like the dots on the normal graveyard puzzles. Those indicate the start.

Top Right / Orchard

1. The solution looks like a tree, so let’s search for some branching patterns.
2. I’d start at the stairs in front of the entrance to the zone.
3. The route branches off to three directions from there
4. Take the previous hint literally.

Solution

The solution is the shape as the road interpreted as a tree. If you leave the main entrance of the zone you’ll stumble across a staircase. That is the trunk of the tree, while the roads forking off to three directions are the branches. From now it’s the same as other tree puzzles.

Middle Left / Ruins

1. The solution is vertical like the obelisks. Probably it’s a hidden obelisk somewhere.
2. This is a big obelisk.
3. I do mean a BIG obelisk.
4. You have stood on this obelisk multiple times now while searching for it.
5. This whole puzzle area is like a bowling alley

Solution

The solution is the shape of the area itself. The puzzles go on from south to nort and the walls are wider or narrower in sections. Each of these give a shape of an obelisk, which you know how to solve. Wider sections are ons while shorters are offs.

Middle Center / Shrine

1. The puzzle does not fit into one screen (or barely).
2. You might get wet while searching for it.
3. Some of those lily pads have a weird color.
4. Look at both levels of the pagoda.
5. The lily pads and lanterns are clustered like the dots in other puzzles.

Solution

The darker lily pads on the great pond on the northern part of the shrine represent the grid. The pink flowers and pink/orange lanterns represent the dots from other puzzles in the shrine. Don’t forget the lanterns on the shore on the bottom left surrounded with pebbles. Solving this puzzle yields the key.

Middle Right / Garden

1. There are flower beds with 4 sections each.
2. Split this puzzle into 3 parts.
3. The pillars below have markings on the bottom.
4. You need to get all of them to be lit to progress.
5. The pattern is: pillars with a circle on the bottom must not be connected to any other, while a line upwards indicates one connection in any direction.
6. You are left with some patterns of the flowers on the screens.
7. The last bunch has to do with the puzzles on the right.
8. Look at the starting location of each puzzle
9. Get some shade after all this puzzle solving

Solution

This one was the hardest for me to get right. The top portion of the symbols come from the flower beds. The middle portion comes from the monitors of the solved pillars, while the last one comes from the first field of the puzzles on the right, as well as the paint on the trellis below. One you assemble the puzzle solve it and you get the answer.

Bottom Left / Gallery

1. The view is great isn’t it?.
2. The arrangement of the windows is strange though.
3. It feels nice to get the red carpet treatment.
4. Feels like the balcony is a good space to peek into some windows.

Solution

The solution is behind the center of the windows on the top level. Stand on the balcony and look at each window. If it has red carpet behind it its on otherwise off. Do this for all windows and look out for “merged” cells when a window is between two others. Window size does not matter.

Bottom Center / Plateaus

1. Your answer hides out of sight
2. There is a weird path behind the western building
3. There is also some rails behind the eastern building
4. The end of the path and the rails end in an angle
5. Screenshots might help some

Solution

The answer is the path and the rails behind both buildings. They have slanted ends on both sides where they can be joined perfectly. The pathway and the rail means on, while others mean off. The final image has to be rotated 45 degrees to the left.

Bottom Right / Mill

1. I hope you also love sunny days.
2. I’d look somewhere high up.
3. Those solar panels are arranged neatly.
4. But they forgot to clean them properly.
5. If I look from the right angle I can see the dust.

Solution

On top of the mill there is an array of solar panels in the shape of the grid. If you look from the light angle, you can see lines on some of them. These lines behave the same as the ones in the mill puzzles. There are bright and a darker lines, meaning different colors from before. Solving the puzzle gives us the last solution.