This Final Fantasy 8 Symbol Merits Greater Adoration

This FF franchise includes many memorable settings. 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 earned a cherished place in fans' hearts, who celebrate the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these areas so unique. But, when it comes to one setting that deserves more attention than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its elegant design, but also for being a truly weird school.

The Pure Blockbuster Scene

First, we must mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and escaping from a missile attack was pure cinema. This place was not only designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that permits them to establish new tactics and reposition, based on the demands of those in control. Many readily regard it as one of the coolest airship creations in the franchise, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

The conversion of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most unforgettable moments in gaming history.

A First Glimpse of a Brooding Sanctuary

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first view of the place this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot starts from the ground of the school and ascends to focus on the staggering magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel advanced, but also somehow divine. The rounded structures recall a specifically late ‘90s idea of how the tomorrow would look. Conversely, because of the gilded features on the building and the long beams of light coming from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a massive angel. It was built to be a tranquil place — too peaceful for an institution that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Theme Song

Complementing the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden portrays, we have the school’s theme song. One of the most cherished memories I have from being a kid is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those fish statues spurting 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 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.

• Gentle music that remains in your mind
• Main hub with water features
• Nostalgic associations for many players

The Fascinating Institution

Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an establishment. First, it accepts kids from 5 to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it looks like a giant 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 Paradoxical Motto

When you access the Balamb Garden Network via 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 feeling that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, given that the training area, where students find living monsters they can defeat, is the only place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is poor, since students are eating so many hot dogs that the staff have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Policies

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we would anticipate from a military school, but on the other seems strangely humorous. First, there’s no dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their dorms in the evenings, except it’s for training. A student may be dismissed if they lag in their studies, 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 formally 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 gunblades and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

More Than Only Appearance

Starting with the refined advanced design of the building to the ironies and debatable actions of the academy, there are numerous features of Balamb Garden to admire. Many of us like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than only surface appeal.