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This FF franchise boasts many unforgettable places. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has earned a cherished place in fans' hearts, and they admire the distinctive details that make these areas so unique. However, if one location that deserves greater praise than the rest, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but also for being a absolutely strange school.

An Pure Cinematic Scene

First, let's address the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden turning into an airship and fleeing from a rocket attack was pure cinema. This place was not just designed to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to establish new tactics and reposition, based on the requirements of those in charge. Many readily view it as one of the coolest airship creations in the franchise, alongside Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.

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

A First Look of a Brooding Sanctuary

When we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial glimpse of the place this sullen-looking teenager calls home. A sweeping shot begins from the floor of the school and ascends to zoom in on the awe-inspiring magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also somehow heavenly. The curvy structures evoke a distinctly late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. Meanwhile, because of the golden features on the building and the long trails of light coming from the massive glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden resembles a massive angel. It was created to be a serene place — too peaceful for an establishment that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.

The Memorable Soundtrack

Matching the tranquility that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden conveys, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest memories I have from being a kid is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, watching those fish statues spurting water, and listening to the gentle theme song. The problem is that it continues playing in your head indefinitely. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m compelled to search on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to make it stop playing inside my head is to have enough of it.

• Lullaby music that remains in your mind
• Main courtyard with fountain features
• Nostalgic memories for many players

The Fascinating Institution

Balamb Garden is compelling as a setting and also an institution. First, it enrolls kids from five to 15 years old to transform 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 Contradictory Slogan

If you use the Balamb Garden Network via one of the in-game terminals, you learn that the slogan of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” Apologies, but I never have the sense that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. But, given that the training area, where students find living monsters they can kill, is the sole place in the entire school available at all hours during the day, perhaps that’s what they mean by “playing.” While combat preparation is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their nutrition is poor, since students are consuming so many hot dogs that the personnel have nothing else to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”

Strict Regulations

Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, for one, we would expect from a combat school, but on the other seems strangely humorous. For example, 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 can be expelled if they lag in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It might not seem like it, but Balamb Garden is truly concerned about its students’ relationships. The school formally recommends that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real risk of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not fighting with weapons and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)

Greater Than Only Appearance

From the elegant futuristic design of the building to the ironies and debatable actions of the school, there are many aspects of Balamb Garden to appreciate. We all like to joke about Squall, but Balamb Garden reminds us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than just surface appeal.