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The FF franchise features many unforgettable places. From Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has earned a cherished place in players' hearts, and they love the distinctive details that make these worlds so special. However, if one setting that warrants more recognition than the others, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its stunning design, but also for being a absolutely bizarre school.

The Absolute Movie Scene

Before, we must highlight the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and escaping from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This location was not just designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a moving base that allows them to establish new plans and reposition, depending on the demands of those in charge. I readily consider it as one of the most impressive airship concepts in the franchise, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

The transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more iconic moments in video game history.

A Initial View of a Brooding Home

When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial look of the location this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the ground of the school and ascends to zoom in on the staggering size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel advanced, but also somehow divine. The rounded structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the golden accents on the building and the extended beams of light coming from the enormous glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was designed to be a tranquil place — excessively peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Soundtrack

Matching the calmness that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s theme song. One of the most cherished memories I have from childhood is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spouting water, and listening to the soothing theme song. The catch is that it continues playing in your head indefinitely. Once it comes back to my mind, I’m compelled to look up on YouTube for a extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to end playing inside my head is to have enough of it.

• Soothing melody that lingers in your mind
• Central courtyard with fountain features
• Sentimental feelings for many players

A Fascinating Academy

Balamb Garden is compelling as a location and also an institution. For starters, it enrolls kids from five to fifteen years old to mold them into mercenaries, but it appears like a giant church. There are a lot of military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Paradoxical Philosophy

When you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the game terminals, you discover that the credo of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, considering that the facility, where students find real monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the entire school accessible at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is poor, since students are eating so many hot dogs that the personnel have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Policies

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should expect from a military school, but conversely seems oddly funny. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the evenings, unless it’s for training. A student may be dismissed if they fall behind in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not look like it, but Balamb Garden is truly concerned about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real danger of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not fighting with weapons and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Good Looks

From the elegant futuristic design of the building to the contradictions and debatable actions of the school, there are countless aspects of Balamb Garden to celebrate. We all like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than just surface appeal.