Bad Galbadia

[Serapy]

Galbadia has represented its symbol countless times in the game.

1) Biggs`s damaged tool which consisted of Galbadia`s symbol. He threw it away and used a replacement which finally made the communication tower to work properly.



2) X-ATM092 was born from Galbadia`s territory, therefore it's quite logical to represent the symbol of its own creation ...



3) Fake Deling President`s train.



3) The broadcast room at T.V Station.



4) Deling`s front gate.



5) The flags, the gate, and the flashlight all in one shot.



6) Deling`s back gate.



7) The dancers of the possessed Edea`s event.



8) This place is where Irvine takes a shot at Edea.



9) Of course, Galbadian Soldier.



10) Galbadia`s car. I'm assuming other cars have this symbol too.



11) Deling`s station.



12) Deling`s mansion. Isn't it ironic that Rinoa's father owns this mansion?



11) Galbadia`s Prison Cell.



12) Galbadian forces` bikes.



13) Galbadian forces` helicopters. G.D.F stands for GalbaDian Forces, Square did this not to confuse G.D.F with G.F.



The concept of abusing specific symbol is similar to Shin-Ra in FFVII and Nazi in real life.

This is why Ultimecia wanted to take control of Galbadia at early stages. Later, she then wanted to take control of everything since she got mad due to the legendary SeeD's encounter.

[Saber]

You should pitch a tee shirt idea with that symbol on it.

[rubah]

Or it's just that Nomura kinda went nuts with FF8, incorporating symbols everywhere. He even drew the mascot for the Galbadia Garden ice hockey team, and the Balamb Garden logo can be found on the cuffs of SeeD member uniforms.

[Saber]

Symbols go a long way, including holding memories, or a great
representation. In this fantasy square gave us, they went detailed into having a world with leading symbols. I think its cool they went into detail with it and put it in there game. Have you ever made a symbol up? I have and it was cool enough to put on all my note books and stuff in school.


PS : Good find

[MJN SEIFER]

I quite like how Square create symbols for things, (in many FFs, not just VIII) and then put them in various places relevant to whatever they represent, without really highlighting that they have done so - it's just like symbols of the real world, and adds a bit of realism to the FF world.

[Serapy]

Or it's just that Nomura kinda went nuts with FF8, incorporating symbols everywhere. He even drew the mascot for the Galbadia Garden ice hockey team, and the Balamb Garden logo can be found on the cuffs of SeeD member uniforms.

Yes, but the amount of Galbadia abusing its symbol is quite huge when compared to other gardens.

This led me to believe that everything what Galbadia has represented in this game are based on the bad side, which explains why Ultimecia chose to rule them in the first place. It wouldn't make sense if Ultimecia wanted to rule the good side, right?

In the beginning of the game, when Ultimecia possessed Matron, she acknowledges this thought from Matron:

Squall: Both Garden and SeeD were your ideas. Garden trains SeeDs.
SeeDs are trained to defeat the sorceress.

At first, Ultimecia probably thinks that this SeeD thought is not a concern. Which explains why she got very mad after her defeat by SeeDs later in the game.

So when Ultimecia came into our world, she initially wanted to rule Galbadia without thinking about SeeD (because it wasn`t a concern), that`s all. When she met Squall, she was quite surprised and started calling him the legendary SeeD. After her defeat, she changes her mind and wants to rule every single atom in order to destory everything, mainly SeeDs. Why? Something to do with revenge and of course fate.

And then the loop gets repeated ...

[crazybayman]

I had no idea the Galbadia symbol was displayed that much. Nice work.

[Jessweeee♪]

Never noticed it!

[Iceglow]

Gabaldia is a military country, it is ruled by a president at the start of the game who is likened to a dictator on more than one occassion, it's then siezed by Edea when she kills Deling at the welcome ceremony for her. Edea truly is a dictator, she rose to power by force and ruled without democratic competition. Most of the locations you show are in Gabaldia's capital city, Deling City (Deling was president, how dictatorish to re-name a city after yourself? I think this stands as sufficient evidence of the dictatorship ruling. I believe there was more information on this ingame somewhere I will attempt to find it on my current play through) A military state will have it's flag everywhere for propaganda reasoning the more flags flying the more "pride" there is to be of that nation. It's very similar to America actually in this regard, both display their flag for everything and anything. General Caraway's mansion at the least and the presidential palace are both very explicably highly decorated with the symbol...after all would you be happy if the houses of parliament, buckingham palace and whitehall didn't display the union jack or if the pentagon, white house and capitol hill didn't display the star spangled banner? Ofcourse not, it's propaganda and patriotism.

As for the gabaldian troops and other military assests, including X-ATM092 and the bikes, all military forces and equipment displaying the flag of their country on their uniforms and such...it's necessary for many reasons, the main one being identification. In WW1 and WW2 many bodies were badly mangled by artillery or tanks, the presence of identifying flags on multiple locations of the body provided atleast a nationality for the dead in question. This is something which has been realized for centuries and yet re-learnt in the two great wars, look at how distinctive the uniforms of the troops at the battle of waterloo were? Red coats british, blue coats french. spanish troops wore gold and green. I'd expect no less than to see the Gabaldian flag everywhere on their military equipment. As for the G.D.F. standing for GabaDian Forces, I have a better suggestion of what it means though ofcourse am willing to admit I may be wrong: Gabaldian Defense Forces. I say this because Square is a japanese company and it is popular in square games to make references to the Japanese army, the Japanese army is called the JDF or "Japanese Defence Forces" the JDF includes the police if I remember correctly. Ofcourse if anyone has a official source stating the GDF stands for GabalDian Forces I will conceede the point there, however if this is a hunch then I'd go with my own definition as the most probable.

Car registration plates in the uk don't have the nationality of the car unless the car happens to be foreign so e.g. one of my old housemates, her boyfriend drove a golf but he brought it over in Poland and drove it here, because he brought it in poland it had the EU logo of stars on the reg plates, however a friend who drives a golf he brought from his local dealer in essex does not. In america obviously states are placed on the car registration plates, I imagine with Gabaldia, Timber and Dollet sharing a continent it is treated similar to the usa in this regard and that timber and dollet produce their own car registration plates with their hearaldic crest on. Though Timber may use the Gabaldian crest since it has been occupied for 17 years.

PS. Side note, thats not Bigg's tool, it's his tool kit if you look at the fmv it's taken from a wrench vibrates itself free of the bag and bounces down the tower to the ocean below.

[Serapy]

Gabaldia is a military country, it is ruled by a president at the start of the game who is likened to a dictator on more than one occassion, it's then siezed by Edea when she kills Deling at the welcome ceremony for her. Edea truly is a dictator, she rose to power by force and ruled without democratic competition.

No, that was all Ultimecia, not Edea. Ultimecia was inside Edea`s body during most of the Disk 1 event. I.e. when she killed Deling, taking control of Gabaldia, giving orders, etc until SeeDs defeated her later in the game: she got out of Edea`s body. When Ultimecia possesses you, you pretty can't do anything to stop her from interposing your decisions.

If Ultimecia didn't possesses Edea in the first place, there's no way for Edea to kill Deling and take control of Gabaldia.

This thread acting as a possibility was to show why Ultimecia chose them, not other continents.

Most of the locations you show are in Gabaldia's capital city, Deling City (Deling was president, how dictatorish to re-name a city after yourself? I think this stands as sufficient evidence of the dictatorship ruling. I believe there was more information on this ingame somewhere I will attempt to find it on my current play through) A military state will have it's flag everywhere for propaganda reasoning the more flags flying the more "pride" there is to be of that nation. It's very similar to America actually in this regard, both display their flag for everything and anything. General Caraway's mansion at the least and the presidential palace are both very explicably highly decorated with the symbol...after all would you be happy if the houses of parliament, buckingham palace and whitehall didn't display the union jack or if the pentagon, white house and capitol hill didn't display the star spangled banner? Ofcourse not, it's propaganda and patriotism.

The universes of real life and FF8 are very different. Galbadia is not standardised in this game because other continents serve different purposes.

As for the gabaldian troops and other military assests, including X-ATM092 and the bikes, all military forces and equipment displaying the flag of their country on their uniforms and such...it's necessary for many reasons, the main one being identification. In WW1 and WW2 many bodies were badly mangled by artillery or tanks, the presence of identifying flags on multiple locations of the body provided atleast a nationality for the dead in question. This is something which has been realized for centuries and yet re-learnt in the two great wars, look at how distinctive the uniforms of the troops at the battle of waterloo were? Red coats british, blue coats french. spanish troops wore gold and green. I'd expect no less than to see the Gabaldian flag everywhere on their military equipment. As for the G.D.F. standing for GabaDian Forces, I have a better suggestion of what it means though ofcourse am willing to admit I may be wrong: Gabaldian Defense Forces. I say this because Square is a japanese company and it is popular in square games to make references to the Japanese army, the Japanese army is called the JDF or "Japanese Defence Forces" the JDF includes the police if I remember correctly. Ofcourse if anyone has a official source stating the GDF stands for GabalDian Forces I will conceede the point there, however if this is a hunch then I'd go with my own definition as the most probable.

You mean JSDF?

When g-garden and b-garden collide with each other, the g-forces were the first to get out of the garden and flew to b-garden to attack it and its people, all took place on a different continent. Did that count as defense? Nope.

PS. Side note, thats not Bigg's tool, it's his tool kit if you look at the fmv it's taken from a wrench vibrates itself free of the bag and bounces down the tower to the ocean below.

Either way, it was his tool.

[Iceglow]

No, that was all Ultimecia, not Edea. Ultimecia was inside Edea`s body during most of the Disk 1 event. I.e. when she killed Deling, taking control of Gabaldia, giving orders, etc until SeeDs defeated her later in the game: she got out of Edea`s body. When Ultimecia possesses you, you pretty can't do anything to stop her from interposing your decisions.

If Ultimecia didn't possesses Edea in the first place, there's no way for Edea to kill Deling and take control of Gabaldia.

This thread acting as a possibility was to show why Ultimecia chose them, not other continents.

The fact remains that whether or not Ultimecia was in control of Edea or not the body used was Edea's at the time the character is introduced as Edea...lets not get in to this debate, yes it was Ultimecia but from the standpoint of a player playing the game and ignoring or not knowing the storyline then it's Edea.

The universes of real life and FF8 are very different. Galbadia is not standardised in this game because other continents serve different purposes.

True FF8 is a "Final Fantasy" key word in this being "fantasy" however, all the armies show their heraldic devices on their armour from SeeD cadets through to Estharian soldiers and Timber's guards. Heck even the Dollet dukedom soldiers you encounter in the Dollet mission have distinct uniforms, if we actually got a better look at them than we do no doubt we'd find Dollet Dukedom heraldic devices on their uniforms. Also the fact that FF8 is a fantasy world does not detract from the statement that Gabaldia is a military country, most (if not all from the sheer number of soldiers you kill in game) people seem to have served in their army this is probably due to a form of national service, another thing which whilst abolished in the UK and America was and still is popular around the world including in China, Sweeden, Italy and a fair few other places so it could well be in the game especially for a millitary state. Though I've never noticed mention of females in the G-army. In a millitary country you still expect to see the paraphanalia of the government ruling over it all over the show, in this case it is the heraldic device or "crest" of Gabaldia. What the crest stands for is not clear, for all we know it was done to look pretty. SeeD's crest or heraldic device depending on how archaic a term we look to use features a stylised yin yang this could easily be used to describe the very nature of SeeD they're neither good nor evil in themselves for they are a mercenary force and good, evil, right and wrong are matters of opinion and from their opinion only the opinions of the one paying the bill matters.

You mean JSDF?

When g-garden and b-garden collide with each other, the g-forces were the first to get out of the garden and flew to b-garden to attack it and its people, all took place on a different continent. Did that count as defense? Nope.

Heres a fun quote for you:

The best defense is a good offense.

I believe Sun Tzu wrote that or atleast the basic jist of it is written by him in his masterwork which to this very day over 1000 years later is applicable to warfare. What Gabaldia does when the two gardens collide is textbook good defense, they used an offense to strike first, strike fast and hard enough that your enemies cannot retaliate it's pretty obvious going up against the most elite mercenary fighting force in the world which has repeatedly for around 20 years creamed you means you're going to hit them when they're under-prepared and hit hard (maybe put yourself in a similar situation, you bump in to a guy who has in the past kicked the absoloute hell out of you, you've been putting round he better watch himself otherwise you're going to kick him down he may or may not have heard it, either way if he decides to kick your ass he can and has done in the past...so you go on the offensive and hit him as hard as possible and hope he cannot get up to hit you back if it works you've won if it doesn't then you're in trouble but it's the best way to defend yourself because if he had heard the rumour and wanted to he could kick the hell out of you anyway trying and failing is more honorable than not trying at all) not to mention we have to remember their CINC was Seifer Almasy, he was NEVER one to be sitting around waiting for his enemies to set the course of battle he proves this during the Dollet training mission. However lets throw some other examples of a good offense acting as a great defense; Pearl Harbor the american's took almost a year to get back up to strength from this, The Battle of Britain the luftwaffe was defeated and never recovered, D-Day well Britain was on the verge of being invaded, already the southern counties were being shelled and the luftwaffe could take off from northern france and some bombers were going to make it through a good offensive action here won the war and killed nazi germany...ok theres 3 and I'm only just skimming ww2 here. Also Gabaldian Defense Force makes far more sense to me since there is a full stop in your image between the G and the D otherwise it'd be GD.F. Gabaldian is 1 word even if you capitalize D a period or full stop indicates in initials a second word...I'm not going to debate grammar with you or the rules of the english language.

Either way, it was his tool.

That was sarcastic nit-picking but if we're going to debate it no it's not his tool, it is his tool bag and his tools were kept inside of it a tool bag is not a tool it is a container for a tool (before anyone comments, yes a container can be a tool it is a tool for holding something, the big difference here is we are debating a repair tool, a tool bag does not repair anything in itself and therefore I am deliberately ignoring that it is a tool to hold something for you) I respect most of your idea's Serapy (I said I respect them because you put so much conviction in them, I never once indicated I agreed with you on them) but this thread had little or no topic really but a discussion as to why the Gabaldian crest is so prominent in the Gabaldian capitol city and military equipment, I have given you a very suitable answer which makes sense because in reality we know I'm right. After all I am yet to hear anyone including you refute that Gabaldia is a military state, of course you could do that but the actions of Gabaldia in the game and in the background information of the game speak volumes otherwise.

[Serapy]

No, that was all Ultimecia, not Edea. Ultimecia was inside Edea`s body during most of the Disk 1 event. I.e. when she killed Deling, taking control of Gabaldia, giving orders, etc until SeeDs defeated her later in the game: she got out of Edea`s body. When Ultimecia possesses you, you pretty can't do anything to stop her from interposing your decisions.

If Ultimecia didn't possesses Edea in the first place, there's no way for Edea to kill Deling and take control of Gabaldia.

This thread acting as a possibility was to show why Ultimecia chose them, not other continents.

The fact remains that whether or not Ultimecia was in control of Edea or not the body used was Edea's at the time the character is introduced as Edea...lets not get in to this debate, yes it was Ultimecia but from the standpoint of a player playing the game and ignoring or not knowing the storyline then it's Edea.

That standpoint only applies to new players who are still progressing the game`s journey [Disk 1]. At this point, of course, they will look at her and think "Oh, so that`s a villain called Edea". Later in the game, a surprise comes into play: Edea stating that it wasn`t her who did the dirty work. SquareSoft did this intentionally because they wanted to surprise you.

When such players have completed the game, they began wondering about the plot and when it comes to making theories; that standpoint of what you said is no longer valid. This thread is an example of what I meant.

The universes of real life and FF8 are very different. Galbadia is not standardised in this game because other continents serve different purposes.

True FF8 is a "Final Fantasy" key word in this being "fantasy" however, all the armies show their heraldic devices on their armour from SeeD cadets through to Estharian soldiers and Timber's guards. Heck even the Dollet dukedom soldiers you encounter in the Dollet mission have distinct uniforms, if we actually got a better look at them than we do no doubt we'd find Dollet Dukedom heraldic devices on their uniforms. ....

Yes, I know that there`s an amount of symbols in the game, but they are not relevant to what I`m talking about in here.

What`s relevant is that Galbadia was involved in Ultimecia`s plan, and the fact that Ultimecia lacks information about herself from the game. If the game has had more information about her, I would of not have posted this thread.

You mean JSDF?

When g-garden and b-garden collide with each other, the g-forces were the first to get out of the garden and flew to b-garden to attack it and its people, all took place on a different continent. Did that count as defense? Nope.

Heres a fun quote for you:

The best defense is a good offense.

Not necessarily. A split of defense and offense is always better.

What Gabaldia does when the two gardens collide is textbook good defense,

I'm not talking about in general. A mutlihelicopter with G.D.F labelled on it came to balamb garden and attacked it, when you view it in one shot, it's technically called offense, not "good" defense.

Also Gabaldian Defense Force makes far more sense to me since there is a full stop in your image between the G and the D otherwise it'd be GD.F. Gabaldian is 1 word even if you capitalize D a period or full stop indicates in initials a second word...I'm not going to debate grammar with you or the rules of the english language.

The game only mentioned Galbadian forces, Galbadia Army and G-Army. That`s the problem.

Either way, it was his tool.

That was sarcastic nit-picking but if we're going to debate it no it's not his tool, it is his tool bag and his tools were kept inside of it

No, I wasn`t being sarcastic. If that tool, thing, whatever was in his possession, then it`s his.

but this thread had little or no topic really but a discussion as to why the Gabaldian crest is so prominent in the Gabaldian capitol city and military equipment

Not exactly, as I've said above, this thread was to show why Ultimecia chose to rule Galbadia in the first place.

I have given you a very suitable answer which makes sense because in reality we know I'm right.

While the hidden plot of this game has proven to be mysterious (not 100% proven correct), therefore nobody is right or wrong regardless of what they may have done. Only SquareSoft knows the answer and I doubt they will tell us because there`s no reason for them to do so.

After all I am yet to hear anyone including you refute that Gabaldia is a military state, of course you could do that but the actions of Gabaldia in the game and in the background information of the game speak volumes otherwise.

There`s no reason for me to reply your specific statements (which is why I removed most parts of your post) because they don't have anything to do with this thread`s objective, but either way, nice contribution you have there.

[Iceglow]

Yes, I know that there`s an amount of symbols in the game, but they are not relevant to what I`m talking about in here.

What`s relevant is that Galbadia was involved in Ultimecia`s plan, and the fact that Ultimecia lacks information about herself from the game. If the game has had more information about her, I would of not have posted this thread.

Please note, everytime you come out with one of your theories it ends up going back and forth mostly between you and me and everyone else loses interest FAST maybe I'm too nice to just say "serapy, you're full of it" and walk away like some do or maybe I'm just a sucker who is starting to worry about you because your theories are insane and if you put the effort and energy in to your life as you do these theories it'd make your life a whole lot better off. I won't call it either way, but your theories as you call them about FF8 turn lots of people away from discussing things with you.

Not necessarily. A split of defense and offense is always better.

You know, I'm not even going to give this proper response other than to say you're arguing with Sun Tzu a man whose masterpiece has stayed revelant for over 1000 years of combat and claim you know better about military combat than every officier, general or warlord who has followed this up to and including the united states army. No matter the technological advancements the art of war has remained a very relevant. Perhaps more so today then in the past where engagements were fought between thousands in 1 location and today where we sometimes have a platoon or squad against an entire enemy position. LOL!

The game only mentioned Galbadian forces, Galbadia Army and G-Army. That`s the problem.

In correct english you do not have to state Gabaldian Defense Forces every time you refer to them, if Japan's military is/was out in a warzone working with the united states they would be refered to as Japanese forces...G.D.F however is a 3 word initial and you cannot argue this it's a fact of the english language therefore Gabaldian.Defense.Forces makes the most sense it could be Gabaldian Diabolical Forces but I figure it's defense you know just because well Diabolical in there would be rather stupid an army wouldn't refer to itself as crap.

Not exactly, as I've said above, this thread was to show why Ultimecia chose to rule Galbadia in the first place.

Oh this is actually what the topic of this is, you had me convinced that it was musing over why Gabaldia chose to show off their banner all the time because enough said thats what the first post looks like and it's not like there was any text formatting to point out otherwise.

As for why Ultimecia picks Gabaldia out to rule over, well SeeD is the only military force in Balamb, she's unable to rule there because it's prophecised SeeD will destroy her, Timber, Dollet both are ruled by Gabaldia pretty much, Dollet remains independent but it's pretty obvious that Dollet would fail to remain sovereign should Gabaldia try properly unless SeeD intervened. Esthar is the only other country in the world apart from Gabaldia which has a military of enough strength or had one at least. She may have known where Esthar was but she needed to get past their protective technology ect. So she takes over the biggest or second biggest millitary there is, what better way to get Esthar open again then to gear up towards a massive war which Esthar would need to get involved in to stop or even just get the Gabaldian force behind her enough to attack Esthar directly, she wanted Adel and Ellone that was all. Gabaldia is a means to an end, to do this you need power a millitary country like Gabaldia is useful for this.

While the hidden plot of this game has proven to be mysterious (not 100% proven correct), therefore nobody is right or wrong regardless of what they may have done. Only SquareSoft knows the answer and I doubt they will tell us because there`s no reason for them to do so.

Well you know, if you won't listen to the rest of us who have told you time and time again that your theories are blown out of proportion and your going overboard why bother posting them here, you're admitting here that we cannot prove you right or wrong (well we can, but you won't accept it unless it comes from square) so why don't you just spam their e-mails with these theories I'm betting if they did reply to you they'd tell you you're wrong too is it that you're scared to admit you know most of your theories are ungrounded?

To anyone else who has read this and thinks I'm a little harsh here, I'm sorry I've had 2 hours of nap today and well, I've also had too much Serapy for a lifetime.

[NeoCracker]

Well you know, if you won't listen to the rest of us who have told you time and time again that your theories are blown out of proportion and your going overboard why bother posting them here, you're admitting here that we cannot prove you right or wrong (well we can, but you won't accept it unless it comes from square)

Probably for the same you keep arguing with him over his theories, even though you admitted he won't accept it anyway.

[The Last Oath]

wow, that makes so much sense