The FF series includes countless unforgettable settings. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has secured a special place in players' hearts, who love the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these areas so remarkable. But, when it comes to one location that deserves greater praise than the others, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its elegant design, but additionally for being a truly weird school.
First, we must mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden transforming into an flying vessel and fleeing from a missile attack was pure cinema. This institution was not just intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that enables them to create new plans and move, depending on the needs of those in charge. Many readily regard it as one of the coolest airship concepts in the franchise, alongside 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 memorable moments in video game history.
When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first glimpse of the location this sullen-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 heavenly. The flowing structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the future would look. On the other hand, because of the gilded features on the building and the long trails of light coming from the massive glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a massive angel. It was created to be a serene place — excessively peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.
Matching the calmness that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest memories I have from being a kid is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spraying water, and hearing to the gentle theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m forced to search on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to make it stop playing inside my head is to have enough of it.
Balamb Garden is intriguing as a location as well as an establishment. First, it enrolls kids from five to fifteen years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a giant church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.
When you access the Balamb Garden Network via one of the in-game terminals, you discover that the motto of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the feeling that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, considering that the training center, where students encounter real monsters they can defeat, is the only place in the entire school accessible at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is poor, since students are eating so many hot dogs that the faculty have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”
Students are controlled by a strict set of rules, which, on one hand, we would anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems weirdly humorous. First, there’s no dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their dorms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they fall behind 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’ relationships. The school officially recommends that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real risk 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.)
From the delicate futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and debatable practices of the academy, there are many features of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than just aesthetics.
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