Balamb Garden Revolt

The Balamb Garden Revolt takes place in the Balamb Garden between forces loyal to Headmaster Cid Kramer and forces loyal to NORG. The brief conflict, which stems from a disagreement on how to handle the Garden's missile crisis, sees the ouster of NORG from the Garden.

Background[]

SeeD and Galbadian top military official Fury Caraway join forces to assassinate Sorceress Edea in Deling City. The attempt is unsuccessful, and the SeeD members involved in the plot are imprisoned in the D-District Prison. Irvine Kinneas, the sniper from G-Garden assigned to assist the SeeD group, avoids capture and helps the SeeD escape. Squall Leonhart, the group's leader, chooses two party members to take with him to make their way back to Balamb Garden to warn the headmaster of the impending threat of Galbadian missiles of which they had learned of during their captivity.

As a response to the assassination attempt, Edea orders missile attacks on the Balamb and Trabia Gardens. Selphie Tilmitt's SeeD group fails to prevent the destruction of the latter, while Squall's party rushes to Balamb Garden to warn everyone to evacuate.

Seeking to save the Garden from the sorceress's wrath, NORG wants to apologize to her and frame the SeeD members involved in the plot as rogues. To prove his sincerity, he wants to hand over the members to Edea. Cid, realizing SeeD is facing the battle it was founded for, believes it should stand up for its original purpose and fight the sorceress.

Conflict[]

Balamb Garden is divided into two factions, and the resulting war leaves it in chaos. Headmaster Cid's SeeDs prevail and the war ends as the Garden avoids Edea's missile attack by Squall's party restarting its ancient Centra machinery, morphing the building into a mobile form and narrowly escaping in time by moving the Garden away from the spot the missiles were programmed to target. The navigation systems lacking maintenance, the Garden flies astray into the ocean where it stays adrift.

Cid and NORG remain in disagreement. NORG, feeling a sense of ownership of the Garden, being its financier, attacks the SeeDs involved in the assassination attempt, planning to hand them over with or without support from the Garden. Upon defeat he closes himself away, ending the conflict.

Aftermath[]

Cid remains in charge of the Garden and NORG's Garden Faculty disappear from Balamb Garden. The Garden's B3 floor remains empty bar the strange cocoon that forms on the site NORG was defeated in. If the party did not save the boy in a blue shirt in the Training Center, he also disappears from the Garden and a girl dressed in red inherits his Triple Triad deck.

Gameplay[]

Many items are available if the player refuses to join NORG's cause, but the player is pitted against a set battle before every area on the lower level of Garden:

Mega-Potion from the student lying on the ground near the entrance gates.

Library Girl gives Zell a Mega Phoenix from FFVIII Remastered

When the player heads to the library, the Faculty summons a Grat against the party.
- Mega Phoenix from the Library Girl with a Pigtail in the library if Zell is in the party.
- Remedy from the Library Girl with a Pigtail in the library if Zell is not in the party
At the Training Center if the player helps the children by fighting a T-Rexaur, the SeeD accompanying the kids gives Squall a Remedy.
At the parking lot the Faculty summons a Grendel and the player gets a Tent from the SeeD inside.

- The player can find CC Joker standing on the bridge on the rightmost area. He sells items to the player, but refuses to play cards with "beginners" if the player tries to challenge him. He appears randomly, but the player can go in and out of the screen until he appears. The player can return and play cards with him properly after starting the Card Club quest.
The Faculty at the dormitory summons a Caterchipillar. There is no item at the dorm, but the player can rest and use the save point.
The Faculty at the cafeteria summons a high-level Bomb. The player then gets a Gysahl Green from the people in the cafeteria. There is also a Demi draw point here, available only at this time. If Zell is in the party, the player also gets a humorous scene where he finds the cafeteria is out of hot dogs.
The Faculty is running away at the quad and the player can let him exit the screen without interaction, but the player should talk to him to initiate a battle against a Bomb and a Glacial Eye to get an X-Potion from a SeeD on the quad.
Elixir from Dr. Kadowaki after dispatching the Granaldo.

To clear the scenario the player must accomplish the following:

Go to the Training Center and interact with the the Faculty member. After he talks, the player can either engage with the situation or just turn around and leave.
Fight a set battle at the library, and talk to the girl and collect an item.
Visit to the infirmary where SeeDs and NORG supporters are at a stand-off. The player can let the SeeD trainees handle the battle or do the battle themselves.

After these three areas, the player can take the elevator to Cid's office. However, visiting the other areas yields further events and rewards.

The following enemies are fought during this event:

Bite Bug
Bomb (the fixed battle at the cafeteria is always a higher level Bomb even if the player hadn't leveled up much)
Caterchipillar
Glacial Eye
Grat
Grendel (once only, summoned by a faculty member in a scripted fight)
T-Rexaur
Granaldo (once only, summoned by a faculty member in a scripted fight)