Dragon Quest island — Attraction in Awaji

In you first hour here you will swear you walked into a Dragon Quest game (first timers: some spoiler-free tips for you at the end). Characters speak to you through chittering, gold-framed text boxes and Sugiyama-sans music beckons you on to adventure. There is a town to explore, chests to open, monsters to defeat (and make friends with), you really are living out dragon quest!

Getting to meet your cute monster friends is probably the real treat of it all. You'll want to hug them and scratch their ears. Fighting them is a blast too, as the game asks you to strike a pose each time it's your turn--helping you get into the moment despite using the simplest interaction (touching your adventurer's medallion to the sensor at each terminal) to do everything. Just like any DQ game, you'll be pressing your "action button" a lot, criss crossing your path (between town, the woods, and the hill) a lot, and really trying to loot everything you can come across.

So let's talk a few tips to make your day more fun: Don't bother trying to open the chests before it's time. The story dictates when you can loot them, and you only get to open around two different sets out of many more. Don't worry about how to do it or which ones to do, the main path of the game will guide you there. You get a map that details every building in town with your welcome pamphlet. Take a pen and don't be afraid to mark it up. As you go searching for and collecting various things, you'll save a lot of time if you know where you've been already! Time? Expect to spend 3 hours here minimum, more if you try to explore every corner like we do. The side quest (part of the premium ticket) adds another hour minimum, but it's cute and totally worth it! That's 3+ hours you'll be criss-crossing town, which has next to no shade or air conditioning. Wear your sun block, bring two bottles of water. Pack your bug spray while you're at it. Japanese mosquitos love tourists, and that goes double in the North Woods. Take a break ANY TIME YOU LIKE. Once you can leave town, you don't have to cross into the woods. You can go to Ludia's bar to have lunch and something cold to drink. Ludia's Bar is the place to go for expensive themed food, but there's a general cafe right up the hill by the godzilla park. It's open to everyone and has a much broader selection of food and drinks to enjoy. Finally, pack some patience. You will see plenty of tourists in the day, and plenty of their kids will think they can be as loud and privileged as they want to be.

In the end remember to have fun. Several hours later we were exhausted, and sweaty, but also really happy we got to meet some of our favourite creatures and take part in a genuine DQ story for...

Came here with my fiance, I've only played one DQ game, years ago, but he's kept up with most of the games. I don't think you need to have played the games to enjoy this, although it certainly adds to the fun when you recognize the monsters and other things. We booked online, with the sidequest, and spent ~4ish hours here. Part of the reason it took so long is we really struggled to find the last chest for one of our quests, and wanted to complete finding all the mini medals. There was quite a bit of walking back and forth, some of it on unpaved/slightly hilly ground, so make sure to wear good walking shoes. It was pretty warm when we went, so I was quite tired by the end, but it was ultimately very fun! It really felt like a video game you got to interact with in real life. We did have to wait in a fairly long line to battle the final boss, so be...

I got the "light ticket" but honestly if I had come earlier (I arrived at 2:30pm) I would have gotten the Gold Ticket and stayed all day. I loved it and the quest was a lot of fun. Great experience especially for Dragon Quest fans but gamers will enjoy it too. *Please note that English speakers might find it a little tricky to get here as the transit options to get here don't have a lot of English like in the major cities and the shuttles from Awaji Inter Change to the attractions didn't show up on Google maps so we ended up walking 30 mins to get there after taking a bus across the bridge from Kobe (which was also tricky to find as an English speaker). Once you are at the park although the staff don't have the most English ability, they are able to guide you and the whole experience has an option for English when you create your...