🔗 Share this article

This Final Fantasy series boasts countless memorable locations. 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 earned a cherished place in players' hearts, who love the unique idiosyncrasies that make these worlds so unique. However, if one setting that deserves greater recognition than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its elegant design, but additionally for being a absolutely weird school.

The Pure Blockbuster Scene

First, we must highlight the obvious. Balamb Garden morphing into an flying vessel and fleeing from a missile attack was pure cinema. This institution was not only designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a moving base that allows them to develop new strategies and move, depending on the demands of those in command. I readily view it as one of the best airship designs in the series, along with 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 most memorable moments in video game history.

A First Look of a Brooding Home

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first view of the place this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the impressive size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears advanced, but also somehow angelic. The flowing structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the gilded features on the building and the long beams of light coming from the enormous glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was built to be a serene place — excessively peaceful for an academy that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

The Catchy Melody

Matching the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s background music. One of the most cherished memories I have from childhood is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spurting water, and listening to the soothing theme song. The problem is that it keeps playing in your head indefinitely. Whenever it comes back to my mind, I’m compelled to search on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to end playing inside my head is to have enough of it.

• Lullaby music that remains in your mind
• Central courtyard with water features
• Nostalgic feelings for countless players

The Compelling Academy

Balamb Garden is compelling as a setting and also an institution. First, it accepts kids from 5 to 15 years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it looks like a giant church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Contradictory Philosophy

If you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the in-game terminals, you learn that the motto of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, given that the training center, where students find real monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the key aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is awful, since students are eating so many hot dogs that the staff have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Policies

Students are controlled by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a military school, but conversely seems weirdly funny. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student may 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 really concerned about its students’ sex life. The school formally advises 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 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

From the elegant advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and debatable decisions of the institution, there are many elements of Balamb Garden to appreciate. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only surface appeal.