🔗 Share this article

The Final Fantasy franchise includes countless iconic locations. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has found a special place in fans' hearts, who celebrate the unique idiosyncrasies that make these areas so special. But, if one setting that warrants more attention than the rest, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but also for being a absolutely weird school.

An Absolute Movie Reveal

Before, we must highlight the obvious. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and escaping from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This place was not just designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a moving base that enables them to create new tactics and move, depending on the needs of those in charge. Many readily regard it as one of the coolest airship concepts in the series, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

This transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more unforgettable moments in gaming history.

A First Look of a Brooding Home

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial glimpse of the environment this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the floor of the school and rises to zoom in on the awe-inspiring size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel advanced, but also somehow angelic. The rounded structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s idea of how the tomorrow would look. Meanwhile, because of the golden features on the building and the long trails of light coming from the massive glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a giant angel. It was created to be a serene place — too peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Theme Song

Complementing the serenity that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the most cherished recollections I have from being a kid is strolling around the central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spurting water, and listening to the lullaby-ish theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head constantly. Once it comes back to my mind, I’m forced to search on YouTube for a extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to end playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Lullaby music that remains in your mind
• Central area with water features
• Nostalgic associations for many players

A Compelling School

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a location and also an institution. For starters, it accepts kids from five to fifteen years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it appears like a enormous church. There are many military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Paradoxical Philosophy

When you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the credo of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the feeling that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, considering that the facility, where students encounter real monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is awful, since students are consuming so many hot dogs that the faculty have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Policies

Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, on one hand, we should anticipate from a military school, but on the other seems weirdly humorous. For example, there’s no dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student may be dismissed if they lag in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly worried about its students’ relationships. The school officially advises that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true risk 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 opening cutscene.)

More Than Just Appearance

From the delicate advanced design of the building to the contradictions and debatable practices of the academy, there are many features of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than simply aesthetics.