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The Final Fantasy series includes many memorable 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 fans' hearts, and they love the unique details that make these locales so remarkable. But, when it comes to one setting that deserves more recognition than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a absolutely weird school.

The Absolute Movie Scene

First, let's mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden turning into an airship and escaping from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This place was not just designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a moving base that allows them to develop new strategies and move, based on the needs of those in command. I easily view it as one of the best airship creations in the franchise, along with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

A Initial Look of a Gloomy Sanctuary

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our initial view of the environment this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the floor of the school and rises to zoom in on the staggering magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels futuristic, but also divine. The flowing structures recall a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the golden features on the building and the long beams of light coming from the enormous glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a giant angel. It was designed to be a serene place — too peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Melody

Matching the serenity that the design of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s theme song. One of the dearest memories I have from childhood is strolling around the central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those fish statues spouting water, and hearing to the gentle theme song. The catch is that it continues playing in your head forever. 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 sole way to get it out of playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Gentle tune that sticks in your mind
• Main courtyard with fountain features
• Sentimental memories for many players

The Intriguing Academy

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a setting as well as an organization. For starters, it accepts kids from five to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it appears like a enormous church. There are a lot of military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Contradictory Slogan

If you access the Balamb Garden Network via one of the in-game terminals, you learn that the slogan of the academy 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” — except for Zell. But, given that the training center, where students find living monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the entire school accessible at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is terrible, since students are devouring so many hot dogs that the personnel have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Policies

Students are controlled by a tight set of rules, which, on one hand, we would expect from a military school, but on the other seems strangely funny. First, there’s no dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they fall behind in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not look like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely concerned about its students’ romantic activities. The school formally recommends 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 weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

More Than Only Aesthetics

From the delicate advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and debatable practices of the institution, there are many aspects of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than simply good looks.