Sorry but I have to say something. I'm playing through FFVIII again and I wanted to comment on something.

You know the problem with Balamb Garden? It's SUPPOSED to be a mercenary-raising institution. Yet in actuality the tone and atmosphere of it is really more like an anime high school. The character sheets for Squall and the others lists them as Child Soldiers but we're not talking Raiden from MGS 2 here. Selphie and the rest just come off as angsty, stupid teenagers.

I'm watching the Garden battle, the one part most people love about FFVIII, and I see the "Junior Classmen" getting hurt and needing to be protected. Well you know what? It's not the Galbadian's fault. You don't bring in minors to your mercenary base. Moreover, teh whole "Garden is neutral" thing is bulltrout. See Ds are quite famous and if you keep dispatching them all over the world in military disputes then obviously someone someday is going to retaliate. And who do you have to blame when the 5-year-olds get mowed down in a hail of gunfire? Yurself. Garden is not a country with civilians or non-combatants, it is a place precisely for combatants only. There is no quarter and there shouldn't be.

Really, Cid is no better than NORG. At least NORG was honest. FFVIII just really reeks of Fridge Horror because I doubt Nojima or anyone else ever considered the implications of Garden at all.