Final Fantasy VIII

Story

Squall attends a military school known as "Balamb Garden". The school is for children as young as six, up to young adults of 19. If a student doesn't pass an exam in their later years, however, they are expelled from the school. One skill that students learn at the school, in addition to combat skills, is magic. Magic is a hard skill to master in the world of FFVIII, and therefore only graduates of Garden are skilled enough to use it.

The countries in the world of FFVIII decided in the past that the graduates of Garden would join a group unaffiliated with the individual countries. Once in this private group, a graduate is obligated to join a foreign government or army, with different level of rankings, depending on whether negotiations had been successfully established between Garden and the foreign country's army. Assignments are made regardless of a graduate's personal wishes.

The highest achieving students of Garden are eligible to join an elite forces group known as "SeeD". Squall is rumored to be an extremely apt student at Garden, and attempts to join SeeD. This again draws many parallels with Cloud, and the First Class ranking he "had" in SOLDIER from Final Fantasy VII. A main character being involved with the military, however, isn't new to the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy IV involved Cecil, a captain of a airship fleet, and Final Fantasy VI began with Terra, who was used by an evil empire as a soldier.