That FF8 Icon Warrants Greater Adoration

This FF series includes numerous unforgettable places. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has earned a special place in fans' hearts, and they admire the unique idiosyncrasies that make these areas so remarkable. However, if one place that merits more praise than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but also for being a incredibly bizarre school.

An Pure Blockbuster Reveal

Before, we must highlight the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an airship and fleeing from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This institution was not just designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that permits them to create new tactics and reposition, based on the demands of those in command. I easily 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.

This conversion of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most memorable moments in video game history.

The First Glimpse of a Brooding Sanctuary

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the infirmary, we get our initial look of the environment this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the floor 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 flowing structures recall a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. Meanwhile, because of the gilded details on the building and the extended beams of light emanating from the enormous glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was built to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Soundtrack

Matching the calmness that the design of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the fondest memories I have from my youth is strolling around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spraying water, and hearing to the soothing theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it comes back to my mind, I’m forced to look up on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to get it out of playing inside my head is to have enough of it.

• Soothing music that lingers in your mind
• Central area with water features
• Sentimental memories for many players

A Fascinating Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a location as well as an organization. First, it accepts kids from 5 to fifteen years old to mold them into mercenaries, but it looks like a massive church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Contradictory Slogan

When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the slogan of the institution is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, considering that the training area, where students find real monsters they can defeat, is the only place in the entire school accessible at all hours during the day, perhaps that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is poor, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the staff have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Policies

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we would expect from a combat school, but on the other seems oddly humorous. For example, there’s no dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their dorms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they lag in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is really concerned about its students’ sex life. The school officially advises that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true danger of being a student of Balamb Garden is love affairs, not fighting with gunblades and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

More Than Only Good Looks

From the delicate advanced design of the building to the ironies and dubious actions of the academy, there are countless features of Balamb Garden to admire. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than only good looks.