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The Final Fantasy franchise features countless memorable places. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a cherished place in players' hearts, and they celebrate the unique quirks that make these areas so unique. But, if one place that deserves more recognition than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its elegant design, but also for being a truly strange school.

The Pure Cinematic Moment

Before, let's highlight the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden transforming into an flying vessel and escaping from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This institution was not just designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that allows them to develop new plans and relocate, depending on the needs of those in charge. I readily regard 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 most unforgettable moments in gaming history.

A First Glimpse of a Brooding Sanctuary

As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial glimpse of the place this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the ground of the school and ascends to focus on the awe-inspiring size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also somehow heavenly. The curvy structures bring to mind a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the gilded details on the building and the extended trails of light coming from the massive glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was designed to be a tranquil place — excessively peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

The Unforgettable Theme Song

Complementing the serenity that the aesthetic 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 central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spurting water, and hearing to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it continues playing in your head forever. Whenever it comes back to my mind, I’m forced to search on YouTube for a extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to get it out of playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

• Gentle tune that sticks in your mind
• Main hub with fountain features
• Sentimental associations for many players

A Intriguing Academy

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting as well as an organization. First, it enrolls kids from five to fifteen years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a massive church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Paradoxical Slogan

When you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the game terminals, you learn that the credo of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, given that the training center, where students encounter real monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the entire school accessible at all hours during the day, perhaps that’s what they intend by “playing.” While combat preparation is the most important part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is awful, since students are eating 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 rigid set of rules, which, on one hand, we would expect from a combat school, but conversely seems oddly amusing. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the evenings, unless it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they fall behind in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely worried about its students’ romantic activities. The school officially suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true danger of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not battling with gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Appearance

From the delicate advanced design of the building to the contradictions and dubious decisions of the school, there are numerous features of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only good looks.