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This Final Fantasy franchise includes many memorable settings. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has secured a cherished place in players' hearts, who admire the unique quirks that make these locales so remarkable. However, when it comes to one location that merits more praise than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a incredibly bizarre school.

An Absolute Blockbuster Reveal

Before, we must address the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an airship and escaping from a missile attack was pure cinema. This place was not only intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that enables them to create new tactics and relocate, based on the needs of those in charge. I easily regard it as one of the coolest airship designs in the series, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

This change of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more memorable moments in gaming 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 glimpse of the environment this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the impressive magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel futuristic, but also angelic. The flowing structures bring to mind a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the future would look. On the other hand, because of the golden accents on the building and the extended beams of light coming from the massive glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was built to be a tranquil place — too peaceful for an academy that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Catchy Soundtrack

Complementing the serenity that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest recollections I have from being a kid is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spraying water, and hearing to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Once it returns to my mind, I’m forced to search on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to end playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Soothing melody that sticks in your mind
• Central area with fountain features
• Nostalgic feelings for countless players

A Compelling Institution

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a setting as well as an institution. For starters, it enrolls kids from 5 to 15 years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a giant church. There are a lot of military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Paradoxical Motto

When you access the Balamb Garden Network via one of the game terminals, you discover that the slogan of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the impression 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 battle, is the only place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is terrible, since students are devouring so many frankfurters that the faculty have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Policies

Students are controlled by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we would anticipate from a military school, but on the other seems strangely funny. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student can be expelled if they fall behind in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not look like it, but Balamb Garden is really worried about its students’ relationships. The school formally suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real threat of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not fighting with gunblades and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Appearance

Starting with the refined futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable decisions of the academy, there are countless elements of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than simply aesthetics.