This FF8 Icon Merits Greater Adoration

The Final Fantasy series includes many unforgettable places. From Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a special place in players' hearts, who love the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these areas so remarkable. But, if one place that deserves more attention than the rest, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but also for being a absolutely bizarre school.

An Pure Blockbuster Scene

Before, let's address the obvious. Balamb Garden turning into an flying vessel and fleeing from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This location was not only designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that allows them to establish new plans and relocate, based on the needs of those in control. Many readily regard it as one of the best airship creations in the series, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

A Initial Glimpse of a Gloomy Home

When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first glimpse of the environment this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the staggering magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears advanced, but also heavenly. The curvy structures recall a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, because of the gilded features on the building and the extended trails of light coming from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a massive angel. It was built to be a serene place — excessively peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Catchy Soundtrack

Matching the serenity that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the dearest recollections I have from my youth is strolling around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spurting water, and hearing to the gentle 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 extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to make it stop playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

• Gentle music that lingers in your mind
• Central area with water features
• Sentimental associations for countless players

A Intriguing Academy

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an organization. For starters, it enrolls 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 Ironic Philosophy

When you access the Balamb Garden Network via 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 sense that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, given that the training area, where students encounter living monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the entire school accessible at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training 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 nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Regulations

Students are governed by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we would expect from a combat school, but conversely seems weirdly amusing. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their dorms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they lag in their studies, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely worried about its students’ relationships. The school formally suggests 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 battling with weapons and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Aesthetics

Starting with the elegant advanced design of the building to the contradictions and dubious decisions of the school, there are numerous elements of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only aesthetics.