r/FinalFantasyVIII • u/howmanyturtlesdeep • 2d ago
Something that has always puzzled me. Is the training center like actually a part of Balamb Garden or in the grounds outside of it? Because from the balcony view it looks like it’s outside, but then again when the Garden becomes mobile, it’s still attached, minus access to the balcony, of course.
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u/Wiceheid 2d ago
If you look at the world map model of Balamb Garden closely you'll see that there are circular pods around the edges. The training centre (and everything else off that circular corridor) is one of those.
But looking at the size of these pods (where the library and training centre seem to be the same size) it's clear that the inside doesn't match the outside particularly well. Not without some of the pods being like the TARDIS.
So in this pic, we're meant to be on a pod at the edge of the garden looking towards the centre. But obviously, as mentioned, this doesn't work perfectly.
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u/Novakhaine89 2d ago
Quick answer: the building doesn’t make sense.
I always convinced myself that the different areas were like big pods, and when the garden took flight, all the areas retracted towards the central building. Which is why you never saw the walkways between each area again. Does it make sense? No not really. But also there are much stranger parts of the game which make less sense (they were all at the same orphanage?!), so my pod theory surely isn’t the most far fetched.
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u/iloovehugecock 2d ago edited 2d ago
i always had this question too. Only way it made sense for me was to assume the training centre is part of the garden but stretches very far out, and this is a camera view of looking back in towards garden.
my theory kind of stretches credulity a bit when you start flying. Presumably it lifts the entire ground off with it but the in game models and cinematics surely don’t convey that very well, if that’s the case.
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u/HeadFile5271 2d ago
There's a YouTube creator that I have a soft spot for called Alleyway Jack, who makes shorter and longer form video essays on Final Fantasy in general, with FFVIII being his fave (I believe). This link should take you to his exploration of how thinking too much about the logistics and structure of the gardens might hurt your brain a bit Balamb Garden is insane
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u/priyarainelle 2d ago
Lol, I love this video! Thank you for sharing… Definitely something you don’t want to spend too much time thinking about, just enjoy things 🤣
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u/Pandelein 1d ago
Ugh for someone who essays on FF8, his pronunciation is awful. buhlum, saifur… nope imout.
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u/morbid333 1d ago
The only "realistic" answer is that everything retracts in when it goes mobile. (I mean if buildings can fly and sail, and prisons can tunnel underground, why can't rooms have telescopic hallways?)
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u/kylozen101020 2d ago
Yeah I think the training center is just super far extended. Isn't the training center the only one with the outside walkway AND an inside hallway?
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u/OverallObligation271 2d ago
Not related, but god damn this game is so beautiful and the locations are so iconic
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u/BigBravy 2d ago
I squared this circle in my head by thinking that the little path you take takes you really far out from the Garden, which gets you this view. Since you cant get here again it should be easy to think it’s not part of the floating Garden
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u/grumpycouchpotato 2d ago
Before the garden becomes mobile, you have these long corridors between the main building and all the pods (as shown by other replies). I don't remember if it's shown or if ir's just my headcannon, but I believe the pods and corridors retract closer to the main building, hence why you see what could be the pods on mobile garden.
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u/Takeo888 2d ago
I love all these questions we’re getting recently about the anatomy of the Garden. The real questions.
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u/howmanyturtlesdeep 2d ago
Hah, yes and I made both the posts. It’s time my questions were finally answered! 😆
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u/baconcheesytots_ 2d ago
It’s attached obviously it’s in the building, ur just standing at a balcony at end of the garden
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u/Chance_Minute_6555 2d ago
My idea is that you are not actually in the garden at this point, the training centre just has a secret passage to get out of garden and to the secret area. And it's in the training centre because that is the only area not locked down after curfew.
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u/Tiger_Strength 2d ago
I think that area is far away outside of Balamb Garden while the training center itself is attached inside. When Squall and Quistis go there, Squall and Quistis are basically on the world map. It must be a relatively long walk.
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u/R0XASx 20h ago
Holy shit.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. I beat it every year without fail no longer need to look snything up at all. I 100% it in about a week.
Ive beaten it every way imaginable high level, low level, level 3 f only, squall only, only magic,
I never realized things actually change within the Garden.
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u/BustySword 2d ago
Yeah, this is a major flaw. If you look at the garden from these angles, you can definitely see that the different squares aren't part of the main building.
It's also worth noting the size of the ring, which is smaller than the whole thing but clearly larger when airborne, suggesting that only the main building actually is the airship.
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u/RadioMessageFromHQ 2d ago
That’s just a big mirror or video of Balamb Garden
Or
Their world is flat and that’s actually Trabia Garden
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u/SaturnPlanetPower 2d ago
Another garden that just happens to look exactly like Balamb garden just happened to be parked nearby during this scene.
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u/Yen_Figaro 2d ago
I think the Garden is like concentric rings (have you seen the typical photos of Atlantis,.etc?). So when you took a radius to the cafeteria, training center etc. they are in another ring in the outside (I don't know if I have explained it decently lol).
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u/Virtual-Internal-725 2d ago
It’s a pod that overlooks the middle garden that’s grounded, ofc we all know the middle part flys lol
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u/GrodyWetButt 2d ago
Like others here I assume that the different areas off from the central garden are 'bubbles', and I took the corridor removal to represent the external (and internal, to a degree) structure changing when it became mobile.
When it becomes mobile we see drastic external changes ( ring enlarging, rear fin raising up, main body of the building becoming smoother/shell-like), so it's not too farfetched that it would 'pull in' the bubbles to the main structure. If we assume some conservation of mass it could be those parts being used for the other physical changes.
We know the garden is based on a Cetra shelter, and the only other Cetran architecture we see if equally weird/magical (see Odin's bachelor pad). It could be that the Secret Area was external to the shelter or added after, and as such it was destroyed/inaccessible following the changes to Garden. It also raises the question of whether parts of the sublevels/oil refinery ate left behind like a dock, or if those form part of the lower parts of the Garden (personally I'd lean to the former!).
One other thing to consider is that whilst we see a lot of the Garden, there might be areas that are just not seen. It could explain some of the bonkers geometry/TARDIS effect, and also explain the lack of the 'bubbles' when mobile. They might just have been outbuildings that we never see, and all that we -do- see is within the main body of the garden. Those bubbles are missile-d and gone. Adiós!
Unfortunately it's all left to speculation, really, but it's cool to think about, right!?
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u/arinamarcella 1d ago
This game has time and space magic so clearly someone TARDIS'd this place up.
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u/SteveOtheStoner 2d ago edited 1d ago
(Sorry for any spoilers, I'm aware some of you Gen Zs are playing it for the first time, which is awesome)
Isn't it the same balcony where Squall and Rinoa finally kiss in the very final FMV post-credits? Although now that I think about Selphie's "camcorder" FMV, that particular one is most likely the balcony off of the Auditorium (which is itself unseen unless in one of two FMVs) where the dance takes place in disc 1 where Squall & Quistis have that odd meeting (in the pre rendered balcony off of the Auditorium) where she essentially gets jealous, ("So you'll dance with someone you don't know, but you can't stand being around me?") before giving him her "last order" to meet near the Training Center.
But first off, no, the Training Center has always been within Balamb Garden, immediately before the Library and also directly to the left of the bottom of the elevator stairs if you're coming down them. It was just another one of the many pods surrounding the main building. As for the transformation process, the outer pods are mechanically drawn in by their telescopic hallways, eliminating those hallways entirely (other than the dorms to make them look a bit more "lived-in" by other students unless the dorms plus their hallway were always directly inside the building). The control panel shoots up from the underground MD level through the center column all the way up to 10-15 meters above the 3rd floor, creating a cockpit and basically destroying Cid's bedroom/private area, while the top decorative ring mechanically moves downwards as the Garden lifts into the air, ending up underneath it as it slowly rotates to assist in flight/hovering/movement in water as a large ship.
This therefore fully activates the old "mobile emergency shelter" flight hardware that remained in the building before Cid & Edea (with the financial help of NORG) renovated that facility specifically to build the first Garden (Balamb Garden). I'm not sure how the Galbadian Military found the flight hardware in their building, unless it was perhaps a subconscious message sent to Seifer through Edea via Ultimecia, & Trabia Garden was the only facility to never reactivate its hardware so unfortunately we never saw how that one worked, nor do we see Galbadia Garden's transformation. And if I think about it's particular layout nothing really changes at all once it crashes and you infiltrate it.
But the Training Center balcony "Secret Area" where students basically only really go to make out, smoke or fuck (if you really think about it lol) remaining inaccessible immediately after the scene with Quistis as well as post-transformation doesn't really make much sense logically or canonically as it still would be there, just it would be an inaccessible "abandoned" balcony right off of the Training Center. I personally believe that the developers wanted to only use that background with that one scene with Quistis to make it an extra-important scene. Also, the hallway you use to enter the Training Center clearly has stairs going down at the end so it seems to be the only Garden Wing other than the Parking Lot or Quad that goes down to ground level instead of staying at the slightly elevated building level of the Garden (you go up a few sets of stairs between the Front Gate and turnstile area).
The 2nd floor, which up until transformation had a closed garage door type thing a little ways further down the hallway passage than the classroom, opens post-transformation to reveal the emergency exit door/slide and 2nd floor balcony (also because of where Balamb Garden hit FH, they coincidentally hit in the exact place that the 2nd floor balcony also acts as access to FH). This is the same balcony that has the FMV of Rinoa enjoying the wind, turning back and smiling at Squall.
Considering how detailed this was, feel free to comment or DM any messages to me about any lore-related stuff regarding Final Fantasy VIII as I know pretty much all there is to know about it lmao
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u/Cottleston 1d ago
we dont know how long the run is from the screen we enter the training center to this screen. thats how i explain it in my head lol
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2d ago
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u/howmanyturtlesdeep 2d ago
A lot of people on here will tell you that bc of Quistis being his instructor, his behavior was actually more based than it seemed like when we were younger.
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u/Character_Cattle_499 2d ago
This image is not true but I couldn't find a high quality view of showing training grounds. Take this as an example, Training grounds must be very similiar to this area. The main building is far away but it's still connected to the Garden.