The Final Fantasy franchise boasts numerous unforgettable settings. Starting with Elfheim in the original Final Fantasy, Midgar in Final Fantasy 7, all the way to Limsa Lominsa in Final Fantasy 14, each has found a cherished place in fans' hearts, who admire the unique quirks that make these locales so remarkable. But, when it comes to one setting that warrants more recognition than the others, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its beautiful design, but also for being a truly bizarre school.
First, we must address the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an flying vessel and escaping from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This location was not just intended to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that allows them to develop new strategies and reposition, depending on the needs of those in charge. I easily view it as one of the coolest airship concepts in the series, together with Final Fantasy 10's Fahrenheit and several of the Final Fantasy 12 military airships.
This transformation of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the more memorable moments in gaming history.
When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and see Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first glimpse of the place this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the ground of the school and ascends to zoom in on the staggering size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that appears futuristic, but also somehow heavenly. The rounded structures bring to mind a distinctly late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, because of the golden features on the building and the extended trails of light coming from the immense glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden looks like a massive angel. It was created to be a tranquil place — excessively peaceful for an establishment that transforms teenagers into mercenaries.
Complementing the serenity that the appearance of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s background music. One of the fondest recollections I have from childhood is strolling around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spurting water, and hearing to the gentle theme song. The issue is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Once it comes back to my mind, I’m compelled to search on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to end playing inside my head is to listen to it repeatedly of it.
Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an establishment. First, it accepts kids from five to 15 years old to transform them into mercenaries, but it looks like a enormous 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.
When you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you learn that the motto of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the sense that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. But, considering that the training area, where students encounter living monsters they can defeat, is the sole place in the whole school accessible at all hours during the day, perhaps that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is awful, since students are consuming so many frankfurters that the personnel have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”
Students are controlled by a strict set of rules, which, for one, we should anticipate from a military school, but conversely seems strangely funny. For example, there’s no dress code in the school, but they can’t leave their dorms in the nights, except it’s for training. A student may be expelled if they lag in their curriculum, for violent acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not look like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely concerned about its students’ sex life. The school officially advises 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 weapons and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the opening cutscene.)
Starting with the delicate futuristic design of the building to the paradoxes and dubious actions of the academy, there are numerous 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 simply aesthetics.
A tech enthusiast and writer passionate about emerging technologies and their impact on society, with a background in software development.
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