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This FF series features numerous iconic settings. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has found a cherished place in players' hearts, who celebrate the unique quirks that make these locales so special. However, when it comes to one place that deserves more attention than the rest, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a incredibly strange school.

An Absolute Blockbuster Moment

Before, we must address the obvious. Balamb Garden turning into an flying vessel and escaping from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This institution was not just designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a moving base that permits them to develop new strategies and relocate, depending on the demands of those in control. Many readily regard it as one of the most impressive airship concepts in the franchise, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

A First Glimpse of a Gloomy Sanctuary

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first glimpse of the environment this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the ground of the school and ascends to focus on the staggering magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel advanced, but also somehow angelic. The flowing structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the future would look. Meanwhile, because of the golden features on the building and the extended beams of light coming from the massive glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a giant angel. It was designed to be a peaceful place — too peaceful for an academy that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Catchy Theme Song

Complementing the tranquility that the design of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the fondest memories I have from being a kid is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spurting water, and listening to the soothing theme song. The issue is that it continues playing in your head indefinitely. Whenever 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.

• Gentle melody that remains in your mind
• Main hub with fountain features
• Nostalgic associations for countless players

A Intriguing Academy

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a setting and also an institution. For starters, it accepts kids from five to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it looks like a giant church. There are many military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Ironic Slogan

When you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the slogan of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the feeling that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, given that the training area, where students encounter living monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the whole school accessible at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is poor, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the staff have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Regulations

Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, for one, we should expect from a combat school, but conversely seems oddly amusing. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the evenings, unless it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they lag in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly worried about its students’ sex life. The school officially recommends that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real risk of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not battling with weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

More Than Only Appearance

From the refined advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and dubious decisions of the school, there are many features of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than simply surface appeal.