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This FF franchise features numerous iconic places. From Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, every one has found a cherished place in players' hearts, who admire the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these areas so unique. However, if one place that merits greater attention than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its elegant design, but additionally for being a incredibly weird school.

The Absolute Blockbuster Scene

Before, we must mention the obvious. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and escaping from a missile attack was pure cinema. This location was not just intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to establish new strategies and reposition, based on the demands of those in command. Many easily consider it as one of the best airship designs in the franchise, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and some of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

The transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most iconic moments in video game history.

The First View of a Brooding Home

When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our initial view of the environment this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the floor of the school and rises to focus on the staggering scale of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels futuristic, but also angelic. The flowing structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, because of the golden features on the building and the extended trails of light emanating from the enormous glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a massive angel. It was designed to be a tranquil place — excessively peaceful for an establishment that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

The Memorable Soundtrack

Matching the calmness that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s theme song. One of the most cherished memories I have from being a kid is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those fish statues spraying water, and hearing to the lullaby-ish theme song. The problem is that it continues 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 only way to make it stop playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

• Gentle music that lingers in your mind
• Central hub with water features
• Sentimental feelings for countless players

The Compelling School

Balamb Garden is fascinating as a setting and also an organization. First, it enrolls kids from 5 to 15 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 Slogan

If you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the game terminals, you learn that the credo of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, considering that the training area, where students find real monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the whole school available at any time during the day, perhaps that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the most important aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is terrible, since students are eating so many frankfurters that the faculty have nothing else to say except “No more hot dogs today.”

Rigid Rules

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a military school, but conversely seems weirdly humorous. First, there’s no dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their rooms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student can be dismissed if they lag in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely concerned about its students’ sex life. The school officially suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true risk of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not battling with gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Aesthetics

From the refined futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable practices of the school, there are countless aspects of Balamb Garden to admire. We all like to make fun of Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than just good looks.