This Final Fantasy 8 Icon Deserves Greater Appreciation
The FF series boasts numerous 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 secured a special place in players' hearts, and they love the unique idiosyncrasies that make these worlds so special. However, when it comes to one setting that warrants more recognition than the rest, it is definitely Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not just because of its stunning design, but also for being a absolutely weird school.
An Pure Movie Scene
First, let's mention the elephant in the room. Balamb Garden morphing into an flying vessel and fleeing from a rocket attack was absolute cinema. This place was not only intended to be a academy for mercenaries. It is a traveling base that enables them to establish new tactics and relocate, based on the requirements of those in control. I readily 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.
The conversion of Balamb Garden into an airship remains one of the most memorable moments in video game history.
A First View of a Gloomy Sanctuary
As we begin playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis escorting Squall out of the medical wing, we get our first view of the location this brooding-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot begins from the ground of the school and rises to focus on the impressive magnitude of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that feels advanced, but also somehow heavenly. The curvy structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s vision of how the future would look. Conversely, because of the gilded features on the building and the long beams of light emanating from the massive glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a giant angel. It was created to be a peaceful place — too peaceful for an academy that turns teenagers into mercenaries.
An Unforgettable Melody
Matching the calmness that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden conveys, we have the school’s theme song. One of the fondest recollections I have from childhood is walking around the central area of Balamb Garden, seeing those aquatic statues spurting water, and listening to the soothing theme song. The catch is that it keeps playing in your head forever. Whenever it returns to my mind, I’m forced to look up on YouTube for a 3-hour-long “Balamb Garden” song video. The only way to end playing inside my head is to overdose of it.
- Gentle melody that sticks in your mind
- Main courtyard with fountain features
- Nostalgic associations for many players
A Intriguing Institution
Balamb Garden is compelling as a setting and also an establishment. For starters, it accepts kids from 5 to fifteen years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it appears like a enormous church. There are many military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less militaristic than Balamb Garden.
The Contradictory Slogan
If you access the Balamb Garden Network using one of the in-game terminals, you find out that the slogan of the academy is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I never have the impression that those teenagers training to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — only Zell. However, given that the facility, where students encounter real monsters they can kill, is the only place in the whole school available at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While combat preparation is the primary part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their food is poor, since students are devouring so many frankfurters that the faculty 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 anticipate 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 dorms in the nights, unless it’s for training. A student may be dismissed if they fall behind in their studies, for aggressive acts, and for… “sexual promiscuity.” It may not look like it, but Balamb Garden is genuinely concerned about its students’ sex life. The school formally suggests 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 gunblades and slashing each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)
More Than Only Appearance
Starting with the delicate advanced design of the building to the paradoxes and dubious actions of the school, there are numerous features 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 simply surface appeal.
