There's Hawaii in this game , u can find it on world map. It consists of 2 island a small and a big one. The small islan has a shop wher NPC sells rank18 stuffs good for compound ( fine grass , fine golden rose , fine leaf etc.) and some kind of food, coffe and energy drink. There's a big Island where are hyppo monsters. There's a star quest minigame for example, a gold ore collector space and the original space of carnie in a cave. Also there's a blocked part but i don't know which quest unblock it sorry.
In fact you friends didn't lie at all , just was speaking about the 2 different island which is close to each other :)