In the beginning

Back in August of 1999, when I first learned how easy it was to write a simple HTML document I got a vision in my mind for the development of a website. To have a website you need content. So I picked something I liked...Final Fantasy games!

At first I wanted to build a site to cover all eight (at the time) games to be called "Paladin's Final Fantasy Source". A fools errand for a beginner. I went to see what kind of FF sites were out there. I found a lot of bad information and poorly designed fan sites, some big full coverage but thin-on-content (unless it was FF7) sites, and only a smattering of good quality fan sites. So I scaled back my "Paladin's Final Fantasy Source" idea to simply "Paladin's Final Fantasy IV Archive" to cover my favorite game in the series, which was to be a high quality site (at some point). It went online at the domain ff4.50megs.com in December of 1999.

Evolution of the Original Chronicle

For a while the initial "Archive" site was more of a learning experience than a real content driven site. I had some basic information, but not much else for content. The work I did on the site taught me a great deal about web design and site functionality. There ended up being about 3 different iterations of the old archive.

By November of 2000 I had learned how to a do a simple site template using images and tables. It was then that I set up a new FF4 site version (4.0) called "Paladin's Final Fantasy IV Chronicle". This went online at a new free hosting account called Paladin.5u.com on the first of November, 2000.

Exactly two years later in 2002, I decided I wanted to experiment with iFrames and a table template, however the banners that plagued my free site simply were too much trouble. Thus I upgraded my free site to paid hosting and gave the entire site the moniker "Paladin's Netsoft Publications" in which existed a home site for myself, the FF4 Chronicle and a prospective new project, the Final Fantasy IX Chronicle. This "5.0 version" iterated up to 5.2i ("i" for "Iframes). I soon became so interested in getting all the information I could about Final Fantasy IV that I invested in rare materials, mostly books from Japan, that told the whole truth about FF4. By the summer of '03 I had a lot of work to do to whip the Chronicle into a site that people really wanted to visit and would be impressed by. Then I learned about HostDime.com.

PaladiNet.com and the Chronicle v6

Again on November first 2003 (11/1 is my birthday that's why I wait and do these things then...) I signed up for a wonderful new account and registered the domain name PaladiNet.com (PALADIN's InterNET Domain). Soon thereafter I had a phpBB running as well as a lot of new extras at the same price as the old site. With the new site came an extreme redesign of the Chronicle and a new special way to present it. The 6th version went into beta testing up to version 6.2, and now version 6.3 is the official chronicle.

While it has never really been finished, my ongoing Final Fantasy IV Chronicle is being flanked by FF5 and FF6 Chronicles as well as LEGO, Audiophile, and Lodoss War web sites. There is a lot of work left for me to do on the FF4 site because I need to translate a lot of the original information to really put together a world class site. As I'm a perfectionist and fickle about working on any one personal project for any extended period of time...it may seem like I am not working on the site any more or have given up...but please be patient. In due course I will have this site finished. The ultimate goal is for it to be 100% complete with nothing left out by 2011 for Final Fantasy IV's 20th anniversary (and good lord, my 31st birthday!!!). I hope and believe that it will be done much sooner. Just remember I do this because I love the game and receive no compensation...and in fact pay to do this (about $85/yr).

In any case if you love FF4 then I think you will come to enjoy this site as more content comes up. Until it's done please enjoy the content that is up, and know I'm doing my best to make this the FF4 site of record on the web.

Thanks for visiting!
~Paladin,
Webmaster, PaladiNet.com

Epilogue

Well, it's mid-September in 2023. I've left the content above basically as it was written over 15 years ago when I was 23 or 24. At one point I built a fairly involved ASP.NET version of a Final Fantasy IV site on the domain FinalFantasyIV.net, which I still own (and which points to this old FF4 chronicle website). However, after I graduated university in 2005 I got a job as a full-time web developer. It's been almost 20 years and I'm a seasoned professional in the web development world. I am a "Digital Transformation Consultant" and also a "UX Develompent Technical Lead" at a large technology consulting firm. I work on contract with a fortune 500 pharmacutical company and maintain their corporate Design System that is used for all their brand marketing sites and more. Needless to say, I get all the web development work I could ever want at work. Which may also explain why my personal web sites have languished in the dust of Web 1.0, rarely touched in all this time. But they are fun artifacts, and I do still love Final Fantasy IV. I still play it regularly (via SNES Emulation or on NDS, PSP, Switch, or Steam) and I even work on hacks for the SNES ROM too! I may yet come back and rework the old "Final Fantasy IV Chronicle one day", but frankly I'm in my 40's now with all kinds of other life priorities. So, please enjoy what's here, click the contact link if you really want to get in touch, but otherwise thanks for reading all this!

Your friend in Final Fantasy IV ~ Matt "Paladin"