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This Final Fantasy series features many unforgettable locations. From 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 admire the distinctive quirks that make these worlds so unique. However, if one setting that warrants greater recognition than the rest, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but additionally for being a incredibly strange school.

An Absolute Blockbuster Reveal

First, we must address the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an airship and fleeing from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This location was not only designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that allows them to create new plans and reposition, depending on the requirements of those in command. Many readily view it as one of the best airship designs 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 unforgettable moments in video game history.

The Initial Look of a Gloomy Sanctuary

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the infirmary, we get our first glimpse of the location this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the ground of the school and rises to focus on the impressive size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels advanced, but also somehow heavenly. The rounded structures recall a distinctly late ‘90s concept of how the future would look. Meanwhile, because of the golden accents on the building and the long beams of light coming from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a giant angel. It was designed to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an institution that turns teenagers into mercenaries.

An Unforgettable Soundtrack

Complementing the calmness that the appearance of Balamb Garden conveys, we have the school’s background music. One of the dearest recollections I have from childhood is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, watching those aquatic statues spraying water, and hearing to the gentle theme song. The issue is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it comes back to my mind, I’m forced to look up on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to get it out of playing inside my head is to overdose of it.

• Lullaby melody that lingers in your mind
• Central area with water features
• Nostalgic feelings for many players

A Compelling Academy

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

A Contradictory Philosophy

When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you discover that the motto of the academy 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” — only Zell. However, considering that the training center, where students find real monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the whole school available at all hours during the day, maybe that’s what they mean by “playing.” While training is the primary aspect of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is terrible, since students are consuming so many hot dogs that the faculty have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Tight Regulations

Students are governed by a tight set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a combat school, but on the other seems oddly amusing. For example, there’s not a dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their dorms in the evenings, unless it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they fall behind in their studies, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is really concerned about its students’ relationships. The school officially suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the true threat of being a student of Balamb Garden is love affairs, not fighting with gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)

Greater Than Just Appearance

From the delicate futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and questionable decisions of the institution, there are many elements of Balamb Garden to appreciate. Many of us like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s greater depth to Final Fantasy 8 than just aesthetics.