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This Final Fantasy series includes numerous unforgettable places. Starting with Elfheim in the original 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 love the unique quirks that make these areas so remarkable. But, if one location that deserves more praise than the rest, it is certainly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a incredibly bizarre school.

The Absolute Movie Scene

Before, we must mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an flying vessel and escaping from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This place was not only intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a moving base that enables them to create new tactics and reposition, based on the needs of those in command. Many easily view it as one of the best airship creations in the series, 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 more memorable moments in video game history.

The First Glimpse of a Gloomy Sanctuary

As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first view of the place this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the floor of the school and ascends to zoom in on the awe-inspiring size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels futuristic, but also heavenly. The curvy structures bring to mind a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the future would look. On the other hand, because of the golden details on the building and the long beams of light coming from the enormous glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was built to be a serene place — excessively peaceful for an establishment that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Memorable Theme Song

Complementing the calmness that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s theme song. One of the dearest recollections I have from childhood is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spurting water, and listening to the lullaby-ish theme song. The issue is that it keeps playing in your head constantly. Once it comes back to my mind, I’m compelled 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 overdose of it.

• Lullaby melody that lingers in your mind
• Main courtyard with water features
• Sentimental feelings for many players

A Intriguing Institution

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a setting as well as an institution. For starters, it enrolls kids from 5 to 15 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 like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

The Ironic Philosophy

When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you learn that the slogan of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, considering that the training center, where students encounter real monsters they can battle, is the sole place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is poor, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the faculty have nothing else to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Regulations

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, on one hand, we would anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems strangely amusing. First, 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 lag in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly concerned about its students’ romantic activities. 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 fighting with weapons and cutting 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 contradictions and dubious actions of the school, there are many features of Balamb Garden to admire. Many of us like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than only surface appeal.