🔗 Share this article That FF8 Icon Deserves More Love The Final Fantasy series features numerous iconic settings. From 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 earned a special place in fans' hearts, and they admire the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these areas so remarkable. But, when it comes to one location that warrants greater recognition than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its elegant design, but additionally for being a truly weird school. An Absolute Movie Moment Before, let's mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an flying vessel and escaping from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This location was not just designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that allows them to establish new tactics and move, depending on the needs of those in control. I easily view it as one of the best airship concepts in the series, together with 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 memorable moments in gaming history. A Initial Glimpse of a Gloomy Home When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first view of the place this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the ground of the school and rises to zoom in on the impressive scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels advanced, but also angelic. The flowing structures bring to mind a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the future would look. Meanwhile, because of the gilded accents on the building and the extended trails of light emanating from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a giant angel. It was built to be a tranquil place — too peaceful for an academy that transforms teenagers into mercenaries. The Catchy Theme Song Matching the tranquility that the appearance of Balamb Garden conveys, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the fondest memories I have from being a kid is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those aquatic statues spurting water, and hearing to the soothing theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m forced to search on YouTube for a extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to get it out of playing inside my head is to have enough of it. Soothing melody that sticks in your mind Central hub with water features Nostalgic memories for many players The Compelling School Balamb Garden is compelling as a setting as well as an institution. First, it enrolls kids from 5 to fifteen years old to turn 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 like a militaristic than Balamb Garden. The Ironic Motto If you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you learn that the credo of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I never have the feeling that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, given that the facility, where students find living monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the whole school accessible at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the key aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is awful, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the personnel have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.” Tight Policies Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, for one, we should expect from a military school, but conversely seems oddly funny. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their dorms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student can be expelled if they lag in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly concerned about its students’ sex life. The school officially 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 battling with weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.) More Than Only Good Looks Starting with the refined advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and dubious actions of the institution, there are countless elements of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than only aesthetics.