Final Fantasy Online
Final Fantasy VIII

Commencement Room

Overview

The Commencement Room is a surreal transitional chamber encountered as time compression begins. Its familiar ceremonial appearance quickly gives way to an abstract sequence of battles against sorceresses from different eras. The opponents vary in appearance and attack style, reinforcing the idea that past, present, and future are being compressed into a single unstable moment. There is no normal exploration, shopping, or opportunity to leave once the sequence begins. The area functions as a narrative threshold between the normal world and Ultimecia's future rather than as a conventional location.

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Galbadia
Balamb
Trabia
Esthar
Centra
Balamb Garden
Balamb GardenA mobile military academy and SeeD headquarters where Squall trains, receives missions, and repeatedly returns between major story events.
Balamb Garden Training Center
Balamb Garden Training CenterA jungle-like combat area inside Balamb Garden containing live monsters and the secluded Secret Area.
Balamb Garden MD Level
Balamb Garden MD LevelThe buried mechanical level beneath Balamb Garden containing the ancient systems that allow the structure to move.
Balamb Crater
Balamb CraterThe crater left where Balamb Garden once stood, used for the final PuPu encounter after UFO? is defeated.
Balamb Town
Balamb TownA quiet seaside town connected to the continental railway and used as the Garden's nearest port.
Cactuar Island
Cactuar IslandA small desert island populated almost entirely by Cactuars and the roaming Jumbo Cactuar.
Centra Excavation Site
Centra Excavation SiteAn ancient structure being excavated by Esthar during Laguna's military service, with machinery, tunnels, and cliffside passages.
Centra Ruins
Centra RuinsA decaying tower from the Centra civilization filled with Tonberries and governed by a timed puzzle leading to Odin.
Chocobo Forests
Chocobo ForestsA network of puzzle forests where Chocoboy teaches the party to call and catch chocobos.
Chocobo Sanctuary
Chocobo SanctuaryA secluded forest in Grandidi Forest where the befriended chocobos gather for the final stage of the Chocobo Forest quest.
Grandidi Forest Highlands
Grandidi Forest HighlandsThe high plateau above Chocobo Sanctuary where UFO? can be fought after all four distant sightings have been witnessed.
D-District Prison
D-District PrisonA Galbadian desert prison built as stacked circular floors around a mechanism that raises and lowers the structure.
Deep Sea Research Center
Deep Sea Research CenterA remote, partially submerged research facility in the far southwestern ocean with a sealed excavation level beneath it.
Deling City
Deling CityGalbadia's capital, built around a ceremonial arch, government district, shopping arcade, and extensive public transit system.
Deling City Sewers
Deling City SewersA network of canals and maintenance passages beneath Deling City used during the attempt to trap Sorceress Edea.
Dollet
DolletAn independent coastal city invaded by Galbadia during the SeeD field examination.
Dollet Communications Tower
Dollet Communications TowerA mountaintop transmission facility seized by Galbadian forces during the Dollet operation.
Edea's House
Edea's HouseThe ruined seaside orphanage where Edea and Cid once cared for Squall and the other children.
Esthar City
Esthar CityThe vast technologically advanced capital of Esthar, hidden from the outside world by an optical camouflage barrier.
Fire Cavern
Fire CavernA volcanic cave east of Balamb Garden used for Squall's prerequisite field test with Quistis.
Fishermans Horizon
Fishermans HorizonA pacifist settlement built around the abandoned transcontinental railway where technicians repair the damaged mobile Garden.
Forest Owls' Base
Forest Owls' BaseThe Forest Owls' customized train and mobile headquarters used to brief Squall's team and stage the president-abduction operation.
Timber
TimberA rail-centered city under Galbadian occupation and the base of several resistance groups, including the Forest Owls.
Timber TV Station
Timber TV StationA broadcast complex reached through Timber's back streets after the resistance attempts to use the restored television signal.
Galbadia Garden
Galbadia GardenA Garden academy allied with the Galbadian government, initially visited for new orders and later converted into Seifer's mobile stronghold.
Galbadia Missile Base
Galbadia Missile BaseA secured military installation controlling the missiles launched against Trabia Garden and Balamb Garden.
Great Salt Lake
Great Salt LakeA dried, skeletal lakebed concealing the western entrance to Esthar behind its optical camouflage system.
Heath Peninsula
Heath PeninsulaThe small gray island east of Trabia's Heath Peninsula where one of the four fixed UFO sightings occurs.
Horizon Bridge
Horizon BridgeThe immense transcontinental railway linking Fishermans Horizon to the western edge of Esthar.
Island Closest to Heaven
Island Closest to HeavenThe far northeastern island near Esthar, covered with hidden high-tier draw points and forced level 100 enemy encounters.
Island Closest to Hell
Island Closest to HellThe far western island off Galbadia, containing dense hidden high-tier draw points and forced level 100 enemies.
Kashkabald Desert
Kashkabald DesertA broad desert on southern Centra bordering Cactuar Island and several late-game world-map secrets.
Kashkabald Desert UFO Sighting
Kashkabald Desert UFO SightingThe western section of Kashkabald Desert where one of the four fixed UFO sightings occurs.
Lunar Gate
Lunar GateEsthar's launch facility for sending passengers to the Lunar Base by capsule.
Lunatic Pandora Laboratory
Lunatic Pandora LaboratoryAn Esthar research facility where Laguna works while attempting to locate and rescue Ellone.
Lunatic Pandora
Lunatic PandoraA colossal mobile excavation structure containing the Crystal Pillar that directs the Lunar Cry.
Mandy Beach
Mandy BeachA beach east of Timber where one of the four fixed UFO sightings occurs.
Obel Lake
Obel LakeA horseshoe-shaped lake north of Timber where a hidden shadow initiates a world-spanning riddle quest.
Shumi Village
Shumi VillageAn underground settlement of Shumi and Moombas reached by an elevator beneath Trabia's northern landscape.
Sorceress Memorial
Sorceress MemorialAn Esthar containment facility built to seal sorceresses, originally used to imprison Adel and later Rinoa.
Tears' Point
Tears' PointA monument and excavation site centered on a crystalline structure associated with the Lunar Cry.
The Basics Forest
The Basics ForestA straightforward Chocobo Forest on the Sorbald Snowfield south of Shumi Village, requiring two main whistle placements to isolate one chicobo.
The Beginner's Forest
The Beginner's ForestThe easiest Chocobo Forest puzzle, located on Winter Island near Shumi Village, where Chocoboy introduces the whistle mechanics.
The Enclosed Forest
The Enclosed ForestA secluded Chocobo Forest in the Talle Mountains of southeastern Centra with the most involved multi-step chicobo puzzle.
The Forest of Fun
The Forest of FunA Chocobo Forest in Lenown Plains east of Edea's House whose puzzle uses several chicobos in a bowling-like sequence.
The Forest of Solitude
The Forest of SolitudeA difficult-to-find Chocobo Forest on Nectar Peninsula at northern Centra, containing only one precisely hidden chicobo.
The Roaming Forest
The Roaming ForestA Chocobo Forest in Bika Snowfield north of Trabia Garden, also used as the starting point for the chocobo route to the Sanctuary.
Timber Forest
Timber ForestA forest route used by Laguna, Kiros, and Ward while traveling toward Deling City.
Tomb of the Unknown King
Tomb of the Unknown KingA flooded royal tomb northeast of Deling City built as a symmetrical maze around the chambers of Sacred and Minotaur.
Trabia Garden
Trabia GardenSelphie's former Garden, left in ruins after a Galbadian missile strike and occupied by surviving students.
Ultimecia Castle
Ultimecia CastleUltimecia's immense castle in the compressed future, filled with sealed commands, eight guardian bosses, puzzles, and the final battle.
Vienne Mountains
Vienne MountainsA mountain range along southern Trabia used as the location of Laguna's movie production.
White SeeD Ship
White SeeD ShipA concealed vessel operated by Edea's White SeeDs to protect Ellone from Galbadia and Esthar.
Winhill
WinhillA rural village surrounded by flower fields where Laguna recuperates, patrols for monsters, and lives with Raine and Ellone.
Winhill Bluffs
Winhill BluffsThe elevated grasslands surrounding Winhill where one of the four fixed UFO sightings occurs.
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