This Final Fantasy 8 Symbol Merits More Appreciation
This Final Fantasy franchise features numerous memorable places. 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 secured a special place in fans' hearts, and they admire the distinctive idiosyncrasies that make these worlds so unique. However, if one location that deserves greater recognition than the others, it is undoubtedly Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy 8, not only because of its stunning design, but also for being a truly strange school.
An Absolute Blockbuster Reveal
Before, we must address the obvious. Balamb Garden turning into an flying vessel and escaping from a missile attack was absolute cinema. This place was not only designed to be a training camp for mercenaries. It is a mobile base that enables them to establish new tactics and reposition, based on the requirements of those in control. Many readily regard it as one of the coolest airship concepts in the franchise, along 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 First Glimpse of a Brooding Home
When we start playing Final Fantasy 8 and watch Quistis leading Squall out of the medical wing, we get our initial view of the place this gloomy-looking teenager calls home. A panoramic shot starts from the ground of the school and ascends to focus on the impressive size of the building. Balamb Garden has a design that makes it feel advanced, but also somehow heavenly. The curvy structures evoke a specifically late ‘90s concept of how the tomorrow would look. On the other hand, because of the gilded details on the building and the extended beams of light coming from the massive glowing ring on top of the school, Balamb Garden evokes a giant angel. It was built to be a peaceful place — excessively peaceful for an academy that turns teenagers into mercenaries.
The Unforgettable Theme Song
Complementing the serenity that the aesthetic of Balamb Garden suggests, we have the school’s theme song. One of the fondest memories I have from my youth is walking around the main area of Balamb Garden, seeing those fish statues spouting water, and listening to the soothing theme song. The problem 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 extended “Balamb Garden” song video. The sole way to get it out of playing inside my head is to have enough of it.
- Gentle melody that remains in your mind
- Central courtyard with fountain features
- Sentimental associations for many players
A Compelling Academy
Balamb Garden is intriguing as a setting and also an organization. For starters, it enrolls kids from 5 to 15 years old to turn them into mercenaries, but it appears like a massive church. There are numerous military schools in RPGs, like in Trails of Cold Steel, but not one look less like a militaristic than Balamb Garden.
The Contradictory Motto
When you use the Balamb Garden Network using one of the game terminals, you find out that the slogan of the school is “Work hard, study hard, and play hard.” I’m sorry, but I didn't have the sense that those teenagers preparing to be mercenaries are “playing hard” — except for Zell. However, given that the facility, where students find living monsters they can battle, is the only place in the whole school available at any time during the day, maybe that’s what they intend by “playing.” While training is the most important part of a student’s life in Balamb Garden, their diet is poor, since students are eating so many hot dogs that the personnel have no other response to say besides “No more hot dogs today.”
Strict Rules
Students are controlled by a rigid set of rules, which, for one, we would expect from a military school, but conversely seems strangely amusing. First, there’s no dress code in the school, but they are not allowed to 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 really concerned about its students’ sex life. The school officially suggests that students “take time to think things through before starting a relationship.” (After all, the real threat of being a student of Balamb Garden is romantic relationships, not battling with gunblades and cutting each other's faces like Squall and Seifer were doing in the intro cutscene.)
More Than Just Aesthetics
Starting with the refined futuristic design of the building to the contradictions and dubious practices of the school, there are many elements of Balamb Garden to celebrate. Many of us like to tease Squall, but Balamb Garden serves to remind us that there’s more to Final Fantasy 8 than simply aesthetics.
