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This FF series features countless memorable places. Starting with Elfheim in the very first 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 fans' hearts, who admire the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these worlds so unique. But, when it comes to one setting that deserves greater recognition than the others, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its stunning design, but additionally for being a incredibly strange school.

An Pure Cinematic Reveal

First, we must highlight the obvious. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and escaping from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This institution was not only designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a moving base that enables them to establish new tactics and reposition, based on the requirements of those in command. I easily consider it as one of the most impressive airship designs in the franchise, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

The Initial Look of a Gloomy Home

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial look of the place this gloomy-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 appears advanced, but also somehow divine. The flowing structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s vision of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, 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 looks like a giant angel. It was built to be a tranquil place — excessively peaceful for an establishment that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Catchy Soundtrack

Matching the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden conveys, 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 aquatic statues spraying water, and listening to the gentle theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head constantly. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m forced 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 listen to it repeatedly of it.

• Soothing tune that sticks in your mind
• Main hub with water features
• Sentimental feelings for countless players

A Compelling Academy

Balamb Garden is compelling as a location as well as an institution. For starters, it accepts kids from five to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it looks like a giant church. There are many military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.

A Contradictory Philosophy

When you access the Balamb Garden Network via 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 never have the sense that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, considering that the training center, where students encounter real monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the entire school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the key part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is awful, since students are devouring so many frankfurters that the staff have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Policies

Students are governed by a rigid set of rules, which, on one hand, we should expect from a military school, but on the other seems oddly funny. 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 may be expelled if they fall behind in their curriculum, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not look like it, but Balamb Garden is really 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 danger of being a student of Balamb Garden is love affairs, not battling with weapons and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Appearance

Starting with the elegant advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and debatable decisions of the academy, there are countless elements of Balamb Garden to celebrate. We all like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than only aesthetics.