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The Final Fantasy franchise boasts countless memorable settings. From Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has earned a special place in fans' hearts, and they celebrate the unique idiosyncrasies that make these areas so unique. But, when it comes to one setting that deserves greater attention than the rest, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its elegant design, but additionally for being a absolutely bizarre school.

An Absolute Movie Scene

First, let's address 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 training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to establish new strategies and relocate, based on the demands of those in command. I readily regard it as one of the best airship designs in the franchise, together with 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.

A First View of a Brooding Sanctuary

As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our initial view of the location this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the ground of the school and rises to zoom in on the impressive magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears advanced, but also somehow divine. The curvy structures evoke a distinctly late ‘90s vision of how the future would look. On the other hand, because of the golden accents on the building and the extended beams of light coming from the massive glowing halo on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was built to be a peaceful place — too peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

The Unforgettable Theme Song

Matching the tranquility that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the dearest recollections I have from being a kid is walking 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 indefinitely. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m compelled 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.

• Soothing music that sticks in your mind
• Main hub with fountain features
• Sentimental associations for countless players

A Compelling Institution

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a location as well as an establishment. For starters, it accepts kids from five to fifteen years old to mold 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 none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Contradictory Motto

If you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the slogan of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, considering that the training center, where students encounter living monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the whole school available at any time 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 devouring so many frankfurters that the faculty have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Regulations

Students are governed by a rigid set of rules, which, on one hand, we would expect from a military school, but conversely seems oddly humorous. First, 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 fall behind in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly worried about its students’ relationships. The school officially suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true risk of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not battling with weapons and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Appearance

From the refined advanced design of the building to the contradictions and dubious decisions of the academy, there are numerous features of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than simply surface appeal.