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The Final Fantasy series boasts many iconic settings. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has earned a special place in fans' hearts, and they celebrate the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these locales so remarkable. However, when it comes to one setting that merits greater attention than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its stunning design, but also for being a absolutely weird school.

The Absolute Movie Moment

Before, let's address the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an flying vessel and fleeing from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This institution was not only designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that permits them to create new plans and reposition, based on the requirements of those in charge. I readily regard it as one of the best airship creations in the series, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

This change of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more memorable moments in gaming history.

A Initial View of a Brooding Home

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first look of the location this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the awe-inspiring size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel futuristic, but also somehow angelic. The rounded structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the gilded accents on the building and the extended trails of light coming from the immense glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a massive angel. It was designed to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Soundtrack

Complementing the serenity that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest recollections I have from childhood is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spouting water, and listening to the gentle theme song. The problem is that it continues playing in your head indefinitely. Whenever it comes back to my mind, I’m forced to look up on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to make it stop playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Lullaby melody that remains in your mind
• Main area with water features
• Nostalgic feelings for many players

The Intriguing Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an institution. For starters, it enrolls kids from five to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it appears like a giant 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.

A Paradoxical Philosophy

When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you learn that the credo of the institution is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, considering that the facility, where students encounter living monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the entire school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the most important aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is poor, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the personnel have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Policies

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems strangely humorous. For example, there’s not a 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 fall behind in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not look like it, but Balamb Garden is really worried about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally advises that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true threat of being a student of Balamb Garden is love affairs, not battling with gunblades and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Aesthetics

From the elegant futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable actions of the school, there are numerous elements of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only aesthetics.