🔗 Share this article

This Final Fantasy series features many unforgettable settings. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a cherished place in players' hearts, who love the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these locales so unique. But, when it comes to one place that warrants 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 absolutely bizarre school.

An Pure Movie Moment

Before, let's address the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an flying vessel and fleeing from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This place was not only designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a moving base that allows them to establish new strategies and relocate, based on the demands of those in charge. Many readily regard it as one of the best airship concepts in the series, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

The Initial Glimpse of a Brooding Home

As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial view of the environment this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the floor of the school and ascends to zoom in on the awe-inspiring size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also somehow divine. The rounded structures bring to mind a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the golden features on the building and the extended trails of light emanating from the massive glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was designed to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Melody

Complementing the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s background music. One of the dearest memories I have from being a kid is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those aquatic statues spraying water, and hearing to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it continues playing in your head forever. Once it comes back to my mind, I’m compelled 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 music that remains in your mind
• Central area with fountain features
• Nostalgic associations for countless players

A Compelling Institution

Balamb Garden is compelling as a location and also an organization. First, it accepts kids from 5 to fifteen years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a enormous church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Paradoxical Philosophy

If you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you discover that the credo of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the impression that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. But, given that the training area, where students find living monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the whole school accessible at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the most important aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is awful, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the faculty have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Rules

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, on one hand, we should expect from a military school, but conversely seems weirdly amusing. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t 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 might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly worried about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true 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 opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Aesthetics

From the refined futuristic design of the building to the ironies and debatable decisions of the academy, there are many features of Balamb Garden to appreciate. We all like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only surface appeal.