Resources: FFVIII - Squall's study panel

[wilderthan]

Some interesting stuff from the beginning of the game. Get to this by accessing Squall's study panel in the classroom. I have to admit, some of this has slightly changed my perspective on canon. It'll be interesting to have it to refer back to.


The Basics
About Magic
[Para-magic]
'Magic' used by ordinary people is actually 'para-magic'. In essence, it is a technique which involves controlling energy. 'Para-magic' was developed by Dr. Odine. He was the first scientist to research the nature of magic by studying a sorceress. The skill can be gained through proper training. However, with magic, it is difficult to achieve power levels that are comparable to conventional weapons.

GF (Guardian Force
[GF (Guardian Force)]
A GF is an independent energy force. By combining it with para-magic, it is possible to control tremendous energy. Memory loss is a possible side effect, but this has not been proven as of yet.

About Sorceresses and Magic
A woman who has inherited the power of a sorceress. The origins of the sorceress go back to ancient times during Hyne's reign. However, there is no factual evidence.

About Garden
Facility Rules
[Classroom]
-Students should be in their seats and waiting for their instructors five minutes before class.
-When class is over, proceed quietly to your next class.
-Food, weapons and magic are prohibited.
-Study panels are shared. Handle with care.

[Training Centre]
-Proceed with caution. There are real monsters in the training centre.
-It is open 24 hours. Entering the grounds for reasons other than training is prohibited.
-Do not engage in battles beyond your ability.

[Infirmary]
-Visit the infirmary if you have any health concerns or problems.
-No items may be taken from the infirmary without permission.
-Follow the doctor's instructions.
-Resident Physician: Doctor Kadowaki.

[Library]
-Open Hours 9:00 am-lights out.
-Library Usage All materials are open to the public. You may check out materials at the desk.
-Remain quiet at all times.

[Dormitory]
-Everybody is welcome to apply.
-SeeDs have priority for the single rooms.
-Going out after-hours for reasons other than training is prohibited.
-Do not leave personal possessions in the common areas.

[Cafeteria]
-Open Hours 9:00am-9:00pm.
-Keep the area clean.
-If late-night meals are required, order them beforehand.

Student Rules
[Garden Precepts]
-Work hard.
-Study hard.
-Play hard.

[Attire]
-In general, there is no dress code in Balamb Garden. However, dress accordingly if instructed to do so by your superiors.

[Reward and Punishment]
-The headmaster presents official commendations to outstanding students.
-Students who engage in violent acts, sexual promiscuity, or who fall behind in their curriculum, etc, may be expelled from Garden.

[Conduct]
-The skills acquired in Garden must never be used for personal gain.
-Refrain from committing any acts that may damage the Garden's reputation.
-Take time to think things through before starting a relationship.

[Emergencies]
-Procedures in case of an emergency: If you are on 2F, use the emergency exit next to the classroom. If you are on 1F, exit through the front gate. All students must take care of junior classmen during emergencies.
-Do not use the lift during an emergency.

[Evening Outings]
-All students should be in their dorm rooms after-hours unless at the training centre.

Admission and Graduation Info
[Admission]
-Applicants between ages 5-15 are admitted.
-All hard-working and confident youths are welcome.
-Ambitious over-achievers are also welcome.
-Applicants are admitted only after passing a final interview.

[Graduation]
-Must be between 15-19 years of age.
-One must have all the required skills and knowledge taught through the Garden courses.
-One must have the headmaster's approval to graduate.
-At age 20, regardless of graduation, all students are released from Garden.

[Opportunities for Alumni]
-The Garden supports a program that helps graduates enlist in armies all over the world.
-Instructors and SeeDs are permitted to remain at the Garden. However, SeeDship must be attained before the age of 20.

Garden Info
[About Balamb Garden]
-Headmaster: Cid Kramer
-Proprietor: Master NORG
-Balamb Garden was the first Garden built in accordance with Headmaster Cid's ideals and dreams.

[About Trabia Garden]
-A Garden in the Trabia region. There is an exchange program between Trabia and Balamb Garden.

[About Galbadia Garden]
-A Garden in the Galbadia Republic. It is the largest Garden of the three. Galbadia Garden's master, Martine, who is also the headmaster, has setup a program to recruit Balamb graduates into the Galbadian Army.

SeeD Info
[What is a SeeD?]
-Balamb Garden's mercenaries. Commanding GF, they have special fighting abilities. They work in small teams and operate all over the world.

[Dispatching SeeDs]
-SeeDs are deployed all over the world. Their services are requested by governments and even civilians. Their tasks range from providing military support to protecting civilians.

[Qualifications for SeeD]
-Students can apply after the age of 15. Passing the written test annd completing an official mission are required to become a SeeD. SeeDs are paid according to rank.

A Message From Garden
Garden Events
[Spring]
Memorial Service
Entrance Ceremony
SeeD Exam (Written/Field)
[Summer]
Garden Festival
Summer Vacation
[Autumn]
Student-Sponsored Event
[Winter]
Winter Vacation

Cafeteria Announcements
-The competition for the hot dogs and meals is really getting out of hand. We are doing our best to provide everyone with enough food, so please be patient and conduct yourselves in an orderly fashion. Thank you. As you well know, magic and weapons are prohibited in the cafeteria.

Disciplinary Committee Announcements
-Follow all disciplinary committee rules. This applies to junior classmen, too.
-Do not bring animals inside the Garden.
-Report seeing any unusual bugs in the Garden.
-Do not litter.

Library Committee Announcements
-The following materials are overdue. Please return them to the library immediately.
Insect Guidebook (Colour Edition) - Raijin
Goodbye Pupurun - Raijin
-The following requested materials have arrived.
Edible Flowers
Turbine Engines (Revised Edition)
We Meet Again, Pupurun
The Sorceress' Knight (Scenario Edition)

Garden Square
Your opinions are important to make our Garden a better place. Write them down and place them in the dropbox.
-I got first! Trepies forever, baby. Man. I wanna go out with her. (Trepie Groupie #1)
-Hey! Trepie Groupie #1, you gotta name, dumbass?
-I'm gonna kick your ass. What's your name?
-Oh I'm so scared. I'm sooo scared. Big loser.
-I should kick both of your sorry asses. This is not for your silly games, got it? (Xu)
-I don't want the disciplinary committee to get on my case, so I'm not writing my name. (J.I.)
-What? Who's J.I.? Who are you? (Almasy)
-See? They're so nosy. Good thing I went with my initials. (J.I.)
-I'll go with initials too. Hey, does anyone know if the new hot dogs are good? I haven't tried them yet. (Z.D.)
-Oh yeah! They're the best! Man, you're missing out. (M.S.)
-Damn... I missed it again. (Z.D.)
-Hey Z.D., you have your exam today, right? Good luck, man! (M.S.)
-Z.D., I hope you do well on your exam. Be careful, all right. (Librarian.)

The School Festival Committee
Thanks for looking at this page. But there won't be any updates for a while. That's because I, the Garden Festival chair, will be leaving Garden. I did not strive to be a SeeD and I won't even graduate. I devoted all my time to the Garden Festival, my passion...
But, in the end, there was no Garden Festival. That's 'cause no one volunteered to help out. But I only have myself to blame. I thought I alone could pull it off.
I'll be starting a new life, but I sincerely hope someone will take over the Garden Festival committee!
Good-bye Balamb Garden!
(Wimbly Donner)

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

You ought to file this is in your LJ memories for potential 'fic reference purposes, IMO. And it does go a long way towards showing exactly how deep FF8 can be. ^_^ Always did like that about the game.

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

I've bookmarked it on my del.icio.us under my resources tag. Well, "scripts" tag, actually, but it comes down to the same thing. XD

[irish-ais.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's actually amazingly useful. Thanks much!

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

My favourite bit of trivia has to be that Raijin's a bug collector. XD And I think it's sweet that Seifer made it a rule that people report any unusual bugs they see in Garden, for Raijin's sake.

I'm going to check back on it throughout the game, if I can, to see what gets added, if anything.

[ruby-shards.livejournal.com]

:D I found this my last run through of the game, too. I was really surprised, and dorkily enough, I sat and wrote everything down. I lost all of my notes, however, so it's super-awesome to have them again. *memories it for future reference*

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

I read through it last time, but a lot of it didn't stick in my mind. XD It's good reference stuff. I'll be checking back and typing up anything else that comes up during the game. :D

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

That's fascinating. Seriously. And provoked 100 plotbunnies, all the way from "QUISTIS ATE THAT COOL BUG I WANTED AND NOW SHE CAN BREATHE FIRE" to "Why is there advice about starting a relationship in the garden Terminal???"

Totally saving.

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

I thought it was sweet the way Seifer (who obviously makes the rules) put in the rule about unusual bugs for Raijin. XD

It is fascinating, though. I'd flicked through it all before -- I knew about Raijin and his bugs, and the library book about sorceresses that's clearly Seifer's, but I never really absorbed it. Particularly the rules on relationships: I always sort of wondered how Garden would really look on relationships between students/SeeDs (fic aside). Clearly, as long as they're not sexually promiscuous and they think about it first, they're good to go!

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

It's adorable. Seriously. Now I want to write ficlets about it. XD

The relationship thing is interesting, too -- I mean, I've read fic meta about Kadowaki giving SeeDs birth control along with their vitamins or whatever so that Garden doesn't have to deal with 80000 unwanted pregnancies, which I thought was a kind of interestingly neat way to wrap up that little issue there, but it also usually turns up in the kind of fics where Seifer/Squall/Quistis/Someone is having gobs of sex, so.

I'm also wondering about the magic/para-magic thing. It seems to say that regular, weak-level magic is all you'll get without a GF (right?)... does that mean that somebody could learn to cast regular magic without GF and it would just be really weak?

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

Please do!

I've read something with that idea in it too. XD It's not a bad one, it sorta fits with the rules.

I was wondering, too! I think the magic itself can be used without a GF, but GFs' power are required to really make it worth using. I also wonder where that places sorceress power -- is it possible that having sorceress power is like being a GF? In which case -- does Seifer junction Ultimecia? I have actually written it that way in the past, where she lends him strength as if she's junctioned to him.

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

Well, Ultimecia Junctions with Griever at the end (which direction it's going in, I don't quite remember) so IMO it would be totally plausible for her to Junction to Seifer.

In fact... there'd be some neat meta to have there; what if it worked like in FFIV, where if a summon died the summoner did as well? What if a Sorceress could Junction to her knight and unite their power, but if one got injured or knocked off the other one suffered as well?

I also find it neat that you could potentially have a bunch of magic users out there, who (without GF) can only do small things like light a fire, maybe, or make a glass of water freeze.

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

That's what I figured!

That's be interesting to see.

...It's ridiculous how much meta can be got from Squall's study panel...

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

ARE YOU CALLING ME A NERD???

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

NOT UNLESS I'M ONE AS WE --

o shit.

[irvinetkinneas.livejournal.com]

From what I remember of the game, Balamb Garden was one of the few - if not the only - groups training its people to have Guardian Forces. And I do remember that Galbadian soldiers could cast basic spells. Think the Centrans could too.

Hah, I didn't make the connection on the "unusual bugs" rule. I just assumed it had something to do with how common bug monsters were in Balamb.

Is anyone else itching to put M.S. and J.I. into a fic?

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

I read M.S. and thought Mary Sue, to be honest. Haha!

[bloss-japanime.livejournal.com]

Seeing as you spend most of the game having little quarrels with the Galabdian Army it feels a little odd that Martine has set up a program to recruit Balamb graduates into the Galbadian Army.
And why only Balamb graduates?

BTW thanks for doing this, read this is all ages ago in the game and seem to have forgotten nearly everything!!

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

I think it may only say "Balamb graduates" because it's the Balamb Garden system. Trabia's might say "Trabia graduates". Just a theory. XD

[thebaconfat.livejournal.com]

So many neat tidbits! Thanks so much for sharing!

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)