🔗 Share this article This Final Fantasy 8 Icon Deserves More Appreciation The Final Fantasy franchise boasts countless iconic settings. Starting with Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a special place in players' hearts, who admire the distinctive details that make these locales so unique. But, if one location that deserves greater recognition than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its stunning design, but also for being a truly strange school. An Pure Blockbuster Moment First, we must address the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and fleeing from a missile attack was pure cinema. This institution was not only intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to establish new plans and move, based on the demands of those in command. Many easily regard it as one of the best airship concepts in the franchise, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships. This transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more memorable moments in gaming history. A Initial View of a Brooding Sanctuary When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial glimpse of the location this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the floor of the school and ascends to focus on the impressive scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel futuristic, but also somehow angelic. The rounded structures evoke a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the golden features on the building and the long trails 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 tranquil place — too peaceful for an establishment that transforms teenagers into mercenaries. The Catchy Theme Song Complementing the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s theme song. One of the most cherished recollections I have from my youth is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spouting water, and hearing to the gentle theme song. The issue is that it keeps playing in your head constantly. Whenever it returns 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 have enough of it. Gentle tune that lingers in your mind Main courtyard with fountain features Sentimental associations for many players The Fascinating Academy Balamb Garden is intriguing as a location and also an establishment. For starters, it enrolls kids from five to 15 years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it appears like a massive 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 Philosophy When you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you find out that the credo of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the impression that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, considering that the training center, where students find real monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the whole school accessible at all hours during the day, perhaps that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the most important part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is terrible, since students are devouring so many frankfurters that the faculty have nothing else to say besides “No more hot dogs today.” Tight Regulations Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should expect from a combat school, but conversely seems weirdly humorous. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the nights, unless it’s for training. A student can be expelled if they lag in their studies, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not look 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 real threat 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 opening cutscene.) More Than Only Good Looks Starting with the delicate advanced design of the building to the ironies and dubious decisions of the school, there are numerous features of Balamb Garden to appreciate. We all like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only surface appeal.