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The Final Fantasy series includes many memorable places. From 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 fans' hearts, and they admire the distinctive details that make these worlds so unique. However, when it comes to one location that warrants greater attention than the rest, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its stunning design, but additionally for being a absolutely bizarre school.

The Pure Cinematic Moment

Before, we must mention the obvious. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and escaping from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This location was not only intended to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to create new plans and reposition, depending on the demands of those in control. I readily regard it as one of the coolest airship designs in the series, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

The Initial Look of a Brooding Home

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial look of the place this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the ground of the school and ascends to zoom in on the staggering magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels futuristic, but also somehow divine. The curvy structures evoke a distinctly late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, because of the golden accents on the building and the long beams of light emanating from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was built to be a serene place — excessively peaceful for an establishment that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

The Catchy Melody

Matching the calmness that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the dearest memories I have from childhood is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spraying water, and hearing to the lullaby-ish theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head constantly. Once 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 end playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

• Lullaby melody that lingers in your mind
• Central area with water features
• Sentimental memories for countless players

The Compelling Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an institution. For starters, it accepts kids from five to 15 years old to mold them into mercenaries, but it appears like a enormous church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Contradictory Philosophy

If you use the Balamb Garden Network via 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 impression that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, considering that the facility, where students encounter living monsters they can defeat, is the only place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the most important part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is terrible, since students are consuming so many hot dogs that the staff have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Rules

Students are controlled by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we would expect from a military school, but on the other seems strangely humorous. For example, there’s no dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their dorms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they lag in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly concerned about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally suggests 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 love affairs, not fighting with gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Aesthetics

From the elegant futuristic design of the building to the ironies and debatable decisions of the institution, there are countless elements of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only aesthetics.