🔗 Share this article

This FF series features many 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 cherished place in players' hearts, and they love the distinctive quirks that make these locales so unique. However, if one place that merits more attention than the others, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its stunning design, but additionally for being a truly strange school.

An Pure Movie Scene

First, let's highlight the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an flying vessel and escaping from a missile attack was pure cinema. This institution was not only intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a moving base that permits them to develop new strategies and reposition, based on the requirements of those in control. I readily consider it as one of the best airship designs in the series, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

The conversion of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more iconic moments in video game history.

The First Glimpse of a Brooding Home

As we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first look of the environment this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the ground of the school and rises to focus on the impressive size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel futuristic, but also divine. The curvy structures recall a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the gilded details on the building and the long trails of light emanating from the immense glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was designed to be a serene place — too peaceful for an establishment that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

The Unforgettable Melody

Matching the tranquility that the appearance of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the most cherished recollections I have from being a kid is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those aquatic statues spraying water, and listening to the soothing theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head indefinitely. Whenever it returns 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 have enough of it.

• Gentle music that lingers in your mind
• Central hub with fountain features
• Sentimental memories for countless players

A Intriguing Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a location and also an organization. For starters, it enrolls kids from five to 15 years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a enormous 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 Motto

When you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you discover that the motto of the institution is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the impression that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, considering that the training area, where students find real monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is poor, since students are eating so many hot dogs that the personnel have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Rules

Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, on one hand, we should expect from a combat school, but on the other seems weirdly funny. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their rooms in the nights, unless it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they fall behind in their studies, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely worried about its students’ sex life. The school formally suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true danger of being a student of Balamb Garden is love affairs, not battling with weapons and cutting 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 paradoxes and dubious practices of the school, there are countless aspects of Balamb Garden to appreciate. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than just surface appeal.