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This Final Fantasy franchise features numerous iconic locations. From Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has earned a special place in players' hearts, and they love the unique details that make these areas so remarkable. But, when it comes to one setting that merits greater attention than the others, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a incredibly strange school.

The Pure Blockbuster Scene

Before, let's mention the obvious. Balamb Garden transforming into an airship and escaping from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This institution was not only designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that enables them to create new plans and reposition, based on the demands of those in control. I readily view it as one of the best airship concepts in the franchise, along 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 most memorable moments in video game history.

A Initial Glimpse of a Gloomy Home

When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first view of the place this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the floor of the school and ascends to focus on the staggering magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also divine. The rounded structures recall a specifically late ‘90s idea of how the tomorrow would look. Meanwhile, because of the golden accents on the building and the long beams of light coming from the immense glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a giant angel. It was created to be a tranquil place — too peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Soundtrack

Complementing the calmness that the design of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s theme song. One of the dearest recollections I have from being a kid is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those aquatic statues spraying water, and hearing to the soothing theme song. The issue is that it continues playing in your head forever. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m forced to search on YouTube for a extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to make it stop playing inside my head is to have enough of it.

• Lullaby melody that remains in your mind
• Main hub with fountain features
• Sentimental memories for many players

A Fascinating Academy

Balamb Garden is compelling as a location as well as an institution. For starters, it enrolls kids from five to 15 years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it appears like a massive church. There are many military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Contradictory Slogan

If you use 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 only place in the entire school accessible at any time during the day, perhaps that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the key aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is terrible, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the faculty have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Policies

Students are governed by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we would expect from a combat school, but conversely seems strangely funny. For example, there’s no 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 expelled if they lag in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely worried about its students’ sex life. The school officially recommends 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 romantic relationships, not battling with gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Good Looks

From the delicate advanced design of the building to the contradictions and debatable actions of the institution, there are numerous elements 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 simply aesthetics.