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This Final Fantasy franchise features many memorable places. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has found a cherished place in players' hearts, and they love the unique quirks that make these locales so special. But, if one setting that warrants greater praise than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its elegant design, but additionally for being a incredibly strange school.

The Pure Blockbuster Reveal

First, we must mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden turning into an airship 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 enables them to establish new plans and relocate, depending on the demands of those in control. I easily consider it as one of the best airship concepts in the series, along with 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 most memorable moments in video game history.

The Initial Glimpse of a Gloomy Home

As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis leading Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first look of the environment this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the impressive scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also somehow divine. The flowing structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the gilded features on the building and the long trails of light coming from the enormous glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a giant angel. It was designed to be a tranquil place — too peaceful for an establishment that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Melody

Matching the calmness that the appearance of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s theme song. One of the fondest memories I have from childhood is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spurting water, and listening to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it continues playing in your head forever. Once it returns to my mind, I’m forced 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 have enough of it.

• Gentle tune that sticks in your mind
• Main courtyard with water features
• Nostalgic feelings for countless players

The Compelling Academy

Balamb Garden is compelling as a location as well as an organization. For starters, it enrolls kids from 5 to 15 years old to mold them into mercenaries, but it appears like a enormous church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Paradoxical Motto

When you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the game terminals, you find out that the credo of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, given that the facility, where students find real monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the whole school available at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is awful, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the staff have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Regulations

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, on one hand, we would expect from a combat school, but on the other seems strangely humorous. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the nights, unless it’s for training. A student may be dismissed if they lag in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not look like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely concerned 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 danger of being a student of Balamb Garden is love affairs, not battling with weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

More Than Just Aesthetics

Starting with the elegant futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable actions of the academy, there are countless features 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 surface appeal.