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This FF series boasts many iconic locations. From Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a special place in players' hearts, and they love the distinctive quirks that make these areas so special. But, if one location that merits greater praise than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a truly weird school.

The Absolute Blockbuster Scene

First, we must mention the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an airship and fleeing from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This institution was not only intended to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a moving base that allows them to establish new tactics and move, based on the needs of those in command. I readily consider it as one of the coolest airship concepts in the franchise, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

The conversion of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more memorable moments in video game history.

A First Look of a Gloomy Sanctuary

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial glimpse of the environment this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the staggering size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also heavenly. The flowing structures recall a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the gilded details on the building and the extended beams of light emanating from the enormous glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a giant angel. It was designed to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an academy that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

The Memorable Theme Song

Matching the tranquility that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest memories I have from childhood is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spraying water, and listening to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it keeps playing in your head indefinitely. Once it returns to my mind, I’m forced to look up on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to end playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

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

A Fascinating Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting as well as an establishment. For starters, 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.

A Contradictory Slogan

When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you find out 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. However, considering that the training area, where students find real monsters they can kill, is the only place in the whole school accessible at any time during the day, perhaps 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 terrible, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the staff have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Rules

Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, on one hand, 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, unless it’s for training. A student may be dismissed if they lag in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is really concerned about its students’ romantic activities. The school officially recommends that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real risk of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not battling with weapons and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Appearance

From the delicate futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable practices of the academy, there are countless features of Balamb Garden to appreciate. We all like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than simply surface appeal.