Final Fantasy / Square Enix Webpage Archive

Prism

Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
LAST UPDATED: 3/8/2020

A hobby of mine is going web spelunking, where I browse old sites from when the internet was a lot more decentralized and community-driven. This style of website is important to me - it represents a time when people devoted to their hobbies would create resource-heavy websites that people could congregate around. Each site has its own individual flare and expression.

So basically, I thought I'd make a little library of some of them here. I've gathered links of these sites. Because web archive can't archive everything, there's no consistency with how thoroughly the links on these sites work. Some work better than others. Try 'em out, and if they don't work...just enjoy the homepage, lol.

Each webpage has a link with a snapshot of the archive below it. The snapshots were taken on a modern 16:9 screen ratio, so they might not be totally accurate. I may go back and take them on a 4:3 monitor when I get the chance, as well as adding some descriptions. Or more sites.


Aeris' Forgotten Capital (auto-play music warning)
Aeris' Forgotten Capital - Archived Link (archived link recommended - the site is still up, but is riddled with ads) (auto-play music warning)
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Blue Laguna's Media Archive - Archived Link
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The Final Fantasy - Archived Link
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The Final Fantasy VII Citadel
The Final Fantasy VII Citadel - Archived Link
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FF7 Walk Through
FF7 Walk Through - Archived Link
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Final Fantasy Hybrid - Archived Link
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Final Fantasy Insider - Archived Link
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Final Fantasy Spirit - Archived Link
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Final Fantasy Worlds Apart
Final Fantasy Worlds Apart - Archived Link
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IcyBrian's RPG Page
IcyBrian's RPG Page - Archived Link
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[YOU ARE HERE]
The Lifestream
The Lifestream - Archived Link
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Ring of the Ancients - Archived Link (note: I haven't been able to access any of the sites in the web ring. Throwing it here for good measure, though)
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ROCKET TOWN - the Shrina No. 26 - Archived Link
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Rufus' Final Fantasy7 Ring - Archived Link (note: I haven't been able to access any of the sites in the web ring. Throwing it here for good measure, though)
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Square Insider - Archived Link
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Square Haven - Archived Link
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Ite

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Whoooooooa this is more nostalgic than the remake lolol. FF Insider and Final Fantasy Spirit were definitely some of the websites I frequented back in high school, along with Icy Brian, FF7 Citadel, and Final Fantasy Worlds Apart. (I also visited Eyes on Final Fantasy but the website is still active and looks nothing like it did back then — it has MOBILE support ffs XD)

Those banners. Memoriiiiies
 
Rydeen

Rydeen

In-KWEH-dible
Thank you for this thread! I am also an internet "nostalgist."

A number of these look familiar to me, especially FF Insider and FF7 Citadel. I'm pretty sure I've used those latter two sites. I miss those little guestbook fansites, even though they were slightly dated in 2006 when I started using the internet heavily. I also enjoyed my fair share of LJ, numerous fan forums (subreddits are not a true replacement! :(), and DA as well. I feel like the internet went to hell around the time when Tumblr and Facebook became a thing, which is also around the time when intelligence agencies started spying on everyone.

Does anyone else remember that one Final Fantasy music website called Lagoon.. something? Or Blue something?

Rufus' Final Fantasy7 Ring - Archived Link
Click to expand...
Wait, was the owner actually named Rufus? I have only encountered an actual person with this name once in my entire life. :monster:
 
Mayo Master

Mayo Master

Pro Adventurer
Wow, isn't that a blast from the past! I remember checking out FF7Citadel quite a lot back then, it was one of the few sites with abundant info and resources about the game. And I think I visited Final Fantasy Spirit around the times of Advent Children, years later.
I recall that information was quite scarce, only a handful of fan sites would have detailed background screens, walkthroughs, enemy stats, etc. I don't think there was an official site (I think that Squaresoft's website barely existed). It was funny that there were so many rumors about quests that didn't exist - a lot of them were about reviving Aerith, of course. People were also wondering about alternate endings (I even tested one of these theories by attempting to lose the final duel between Cloud and Sephiroth, which you can't :mon: ).
It really did feel like a pioneering period, at the time.
 
Jairus

Jairus

Author of FFVII: Lifestream & FFVII: Reflections
Talk about a blast from the past! I remember many of these sites - FF Spirit, FF Insider, The FF - as well as others like FF Online and Total FF. Never knew you were at FF:WA, Ite! What was your username there? I went by Axwind back then. Kinda sad that so many of those old sites are just empty now. We still have our memories, though.

Oh and does anyone remember a Geocities FF7 site called Shinra No. 26 run by someone who called himself the Captain (aka Cid) and who put together all kinds of CG images of the whole FF7 cast using bits and pieces of existing footage from the FMV's and renders of FF7 and other games?
 
Erotic Materia

Erotic Materia

[CONFUSED SCREAMING]
OOF. Right in the nostalgia. I typed my old site's URL into the wayback machine, and found a MIDI player browser extension... I haven't heard those wonderfully terrible synth notes in SOOOOO LONG. I've never used it before, thanks for introducing me!
 
Prism

Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
I'm very grateful this thread was able to let everyone share and remember their old memories. It's just as fulfilling as it was digging up these websites in the first place, you know? Thank you all for chipping in with sites - I'll be systematically adding them soon. Additionally, I've got a Virtual Machine set up! That way, the webpage snapshots can be taken in a proper 4:3 aspect ratio.

This next site might look familiar...
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(The Lifestream itself is not immune from the archive!)

Jairus said:
Oh and does anyone remember a Geocities FF7 site called Shinra No. 26 run by someone who called himself the Captain (aka Cid) and who put together all kinds of CG images of the whole FF7 cast using bits and pieces of existing footage from the FMV's and renders of FF7 and other games?
Click to expand...

@Jairus, would this webpage happen to be it? It's got a subtitle of "Shinra No. 26" ran by a guy named Cid. My brother dug this one up.

Mr. Ite said:
Whoooooooa this is more nostalgic than the remake lolol. FF Insider and Final Fantasy Spirit were definitely some of the websites I frequented back in high school, along with Icy Brian, FF7 Citadel, and Final Fantasy Worlds Apart. (I also visited Eyes on Final Fantasy but the website is still active and looks nothing like it did back then — it has MOBILE support ffs XD)

Those banners. Memoriiiiies
Click to expand...
Thanks Ite! Added those.

Erotic Materia said:
OOF. Right in the nostalgia. I typed my old site's URL into the wayback machine, and found a MIDI player browser extension... I haven't heard those wonderfully terrible synth notes in SOOOOO LONG. I've never used it before, thanks for introducing me!
Click to expand...

No problem! Glad you were able to go on an archive journey as well. By any chance, if you want any of your sites added, lemme know!

I updated the OP with more links. Today's update consists of:

FF Worlds Apart
IcyBrian's RPG Page
The FFVII Citadel
Blue Laguna's Media Archive (ironic that it needed archiving in itself)
ROCKET TOWN - the Shinra no. 26
Square Haven
The Lifestream

As the list of links grow, I'm wondering how it should be organized. Currently, they're just organized by the time that they were added. Should it be alphabetical? By site age? What do you all think?
 
Makoeyes987

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
Casting Full-Life on this thread because this is driving me mad. :monster:

What was the old Final Fantasy fan site, that had FFIX Bahamut facing off against Alexander as it's too banner, and it had downloads of like, all the CG cutscenes of every Final Fantasy?

I can't fucking remember it, and it's driving me mad. Someone had to have gone there, it was really popular.
 
Sephiroth Crescent

Sephiroth Crescent

Way Ahead of the Plot
Yes, yes, yeah!
This along with @Odysseus Grand Iceberg made me relive some great memories!
Places I lurked include FF7Citadel and it's affiliates (like the Warmech site), FFInsider, BlueLaguna, IcyB, RocketTown, ACnet, and later TLS (though the latter, this place, I was only a silent lurker for a long time up until recently), so yeah, good times. :cryingcat:

Do you people knew about the japanese blog site ff7ac.hotcafe? I used to get great info early from that place back then. It is dead now.
https://web.archive.org/web/20040308160213/http://ff7ac.hotcafe.to/
https://web.archive.org/web/20090506002321/http://ff7ac.hotcafe.to/

PS: Thanks for your magic @Makoeyes987 or else I wouldn't have noticed this thread!
 
Odysseus

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
Did you add that rumor site I showed you, Prism?
Also, it looks like Hojo.org is down. I know it's tied to some murky business, but even that sort of thing has its place in posterity, so it'd probably be worth archiving it from the way back machine.
 
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The Twilight Mexican

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Makoeyes987 said:
Casting Full-Life on this thread because this is driving me mad. :monster:

What was the old Final Fantasy fan site, that had FFIX Bahamut facing off against Alexander as it's too banner, and it had downloads of like, all the CG cutscenes of every Final Fantasy?

I can't fucking remember it, and it's driving me mad. Someone had to have gone there, it was really popular.
Click to expand...
Was it FFShrine? I definitely remember the banner, but am unsure if that was the right site.
 
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