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This FF series features numerous iconic places. From Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has found a cherished place in players' hearts, and they admire the unique quirks that make these areas so unique. However, if one place 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 weird school.

The Pure Movie Moment

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 place was not only designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that allows them to develop new plans and relocate, based on the demands of those in control. Many readily consider it as one of the most impressive airship designs in the franchise, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

This change of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most memorable moments in gaming history.

A Initial Glimpse of a Brooding Sanctuary

When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, 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 zoom in on the staggering scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels advanced, but also divine. The curvy structures evoke a distinctly late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, because of the gilded accents on the building and the extended beams of light coming from the enormous glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a giant angel. It was built to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Theme Song

Complementing the calmness that the design of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the dearest recollections I have from childhood is strolling around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those aquatic statues spraying water, and listening to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it continues playing in your head indefinitely. 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 overdose of it.

• Soothing tune that remains in your mind
• Main courtyard with water features
• Sentimental associations for countless players

A Fascinating Institution

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a location and also an establishment. For starters, it enrolls kids from 5 to fifteen years old to turn 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 militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Ironic Slogan

When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the motto of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, given that the training center, where students find real monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the entire school available at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the most important part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is awful, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the personnel have nothing else to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Rules

Students are controlled by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we would anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems oddly funny. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to leave their dorms in the evenings, unless it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they fall behind in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not look like it, but Balamb Garden is really concerned about its students’ relationships. The school formally advises 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 romantic relationships, not battling with weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

More Than Only Good Looks

Starting with the refined futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and dubious practices of the academy, there are many features of Balamb Garden to appreciate. Many of us like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than just good looks.