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This Final Fantasy franchise features many unforgettable places. From Elfheim in the very first Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a cherished place in players' hearts, and they admire the distinctive quirks that make these locales so remarkable. But, if one place that merits more recognition than the rest, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a truly weird school.

The Pure Movie Scene

Before, let's mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden turning into an airship and escaping from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This location was not only designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to develop new plans and reposition, depending on the requirements of those in charge. I readily regard it as one of the best airship creations in the franchise, together 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 more memorable moments in video game history.

The Initial Look of a Brooding Sanctuary

As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first glimpse of the place this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the ground of the school and rises to focus on the awe-inspiring scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel futuristic, but also somehow angelic. The curvy structures evoke a distinctly late ‘90s idea of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the gilded accents on the building and the long trails of light emanating from the enormous 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 academy that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Theme Song

Matching the serenity that the design of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s soundtrack. One of the most cherished recollections I have from being a kid is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spouting water, and hearing to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m compelled to search 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 overdose of it.

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

The Compelling School

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a location and also an establishment. First, it accepts kids from five to 15 years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it looks like a enormous church. There are many military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but none look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Contradictory Philosophy

If you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you find out 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 training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. But, considering that the training area, where students find living monsters they can battle, is the only place in the whole school available at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is terrible, since students are consuming so many hot dogs that the faculty have no other response to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Regulations

Students are controlled by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we would anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems strangely humorous. First, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their dorms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student can be expelled if they fall behind in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly worried about its students’ relationships. The school officially advises that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real risk of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not fighting with weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

More Than Only Aesthetics

From the elegant advanced design of the building to the ironies and debatable decisions of the institution, there are countless features of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than just surface appeal.