🔗 Share this article

The FF franchise features numerous unforgettable settings. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has secured a special place in players' hearts, and they admire the distinctive quirks that make these locales so remarkable. But, if one setting that warrants greater praise than the others, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its stunning design, but additionally for being a truly strange school.

The Absolute Blockbuster Reveal

Before, let's address the obvious. Balamb Garden turning into an airship and fleeing from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This institution was not just intended to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that enables them to develop new tactics and reposition, based on the requirements of those in command. Many easily regard it as one of the coolest airship designs in the franchise, along with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

The transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most unforgettable moments in video game history.

A First Glimpse of a Gloomy Home

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first glimpse of the place this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the ground of the school and ascends to zoom in on the staggering size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels advanced, but also somehow divine. The flowing structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the gilded details on the building and the long beams of light emanating from the massive glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was designed to be a serene place — too peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Soundtrack

Complementing the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden conveys, we have the school’s theme song. One of the dearest memories I have from my youth is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spouting water, and hearing to the soothing theme song. The problem is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m forced to look up on YouTube for a extended “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 hub with fountain features
• Nostalgic memories for many players

A Intriguing Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an establishment. For starters, it accepts kids from five to fifteen years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it appears like a massive church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Paradoxical Slogan

When you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the 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” — except for Zell. But, given that the facility, where students encounter living monsters they can defeat, is the only place in the entire school available at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is awful, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the staff have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Rules

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a combat school, but conversely seems oddly amusing. First, 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 can be expelled if they lag in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not look like it, but Balamb Garden is truly concerned about its students’ relationships. The school officially 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 love affairs, not fighting with gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Appearance

Starting with the refined futuristic design of the building to the ironies and debatable decisions of the school, there are many aspects of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than just aesthetics.