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The FF series boasts many unforgettable locations. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has secured a special place in fans' hearts, and they admire the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these locales so unique. But, if one setting that warrants greater praise than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but also for being a absolutely weird school.

An Pure Blockbuster Reveal

Before, let's address the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and fleeing from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This location was not just designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to establish new plans and relocate, depending on the needs of those in charge. Many easily regard it as one of the coolest airship concepts in the series, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

This transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more iconic moments in video game history.

A First Glimpse of a Gloomy Sanctuary

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial glimpse of the environment this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the awe-inspiring magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels futuristic, but also divine. The rounded structures recall a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the future would look. Meanwhile, because of the golden accents on the building and the long trails of light coming from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was created to be a tranquil place — excessively peaceful for an establishment that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

The Memorable Melody

Complementing the tranquility that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s theme song. One of the dearest recollections I have from my youth is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those fish statues spraying water, and listening to the lullaby-ish theme song. The issue is that it continues playing in your head indefinitely. Once it returns to my mind, I’m compelled to look up on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to make it stop playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Soothing melody that remains in your mind
• Central area with water features
• Sentimental memories for many players

A Intriguing School

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a location and also an establishment. First, it enrolls kids from 5 to 15 years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a enormous 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.

The Paradoxical Philosophy

If you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you find out that the credo of the institution is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the feeling that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, considering that the training area, where students encounter living monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the entire school accessible at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While combat preparation is the primary aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is terrible, since students are consuming so many hot dogs that the staff have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Rules

Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, for one, we would anticipate from a military school, but on the other seems weirdly amusing. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the evenings, unless it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they lag in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly worried about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally advises 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 weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Aesthetics

From the delicate futuristic design of the building to the ironies and debatable decisions of the institution, there are numerous elements of Balamb Garden to appreciate. Many of us like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than simply aesthetics.