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The Final Fantasy franchise boasts countless memorable locations. From Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has earned a cherished place in players' hearts, and they admire the distinctive details that make these locales so special. However, when it comes to one setting that merits more praise than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its stunning design, but also for being a incredibly bizarre school.

The Pure Cinematic Moment

First, we must highlight the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an airship and fleeing from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This place was not just intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that enables them to develop new plans and move, depending on the needs of those in charge. I readily regard 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.

The conversion of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most unforgettable moments in gaming history.

A First View 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 glimpse of the location this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the ground of the school and ascends to focus on the impressive scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also heavenly. The rounded structures bring to mind a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the gilded accents on the building and the long trails of light emanating from the massive glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a giant angel. It was built to be a peaceful place — too peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

The Unforgettable Theme Song

Complementing the calmness that the design of Balamb Garden conveys, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest memories I have from being a kid is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spurting water, and listening to the gentle theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head indefinitely. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m compelled to search on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to make it stop playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

• Soothing music that lingers in your mind
• Central courtyard with water features
• Sentimental associations for countless players

A Compelling School

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a setting as well as an organization. For starters, it enrolls kids from 5 to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it appears like a enormous church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Paradoxical Motto

If you access the Balamb Garden Network via one of the in-game terminals, you learn that the motto of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the feeling that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. But, given that the facility, where students find living monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the entire school available at all hours during the day, perhaps that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is awful, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the faculty have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Regulations

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems oddly funny. For example, there’s no dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they lag in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not look like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely concerned about its students’ relationships. The school officially recommends 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 opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Aesthetics

From the elegant advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable practices of the academy, there are many elements of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than only surface appeal.