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This FF franchise features countless unforgettable locations. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has found a cherished place in fans' hearts, and they admire the unique quirks that make these areas so special. However, if one location that deserves greater recognition than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its beautiful design, but also for being a truly bizarre school.

The Absolute Movie Reveal

Before, we must address the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden transforming into an airship and escaping from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This location was not just designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that permits them to establish new plans and move, based on the demands of those in command. Many easily view it as one of the best airship designs 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 more memorable moments in gaming history.

The First Glimpse of a Brooding Sanctuary

When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first view of the place this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the ground of the school and ascends to zoom in on the impressive scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel futuristic, but also somehow divine. The curvy structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the tomorrow would look. Meanwhile, because of the gilded features on the building and the long trails of light emanating from the enormous glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was created to be a serene place — too peaceful for an academy that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Melody

Complementing the tranquility that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest memories I have from my youth is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spraying water, and listening to the gentle theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever 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 get it out of playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Lullaby melody that lingers in your mind
• Main hub with water features
• Sentimental associations for many players

The Fascinating School

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a location and also an institution. For starters, it enrolls kids from five to fifteen years old to mold them into mercenaries, but it appears like a massive church. There are a lot of military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Ironic Slogan

If you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the credo of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the impression that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, considering that the facility, where students encounter real monsters they can defeat, is the only place in the entire school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they intend 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 hot dogs that the personnel have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Policies

Students are controlled by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we would anticipate from a military school, but on the other seems oddly humorous. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student can be expelled if they fall behind in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is really concerned about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally suggests 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 romantic relationships, not fighting with weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

More Than Only Good Looks

From the refined advanced design of the building to the contradictions and dubious practices of the academy, there are numerous features of Balamb Garden to appreciate. We all like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only aesthetics.