So you're a Final Fantasy fan and you've played all the games in the series. You loved "Final Fantasy VII," cried at the end of "Final Fantasy X," and the portable versions of "Final Fantasy I-VI" saved you on many a field trip and business meeting. Now you feel like it's time to involve yourself in "Final Fantasy XI," the online installment of the franchise. But hold on one second: You might not be ready for this game.

Unlike the other installments of the series where the games were easy to pick up and play, "Final Fantasy XI" requires patience just to get the darn thing started. Therefore I've set up this guide to let you know how to start your journey into Square-Enix's massive online world. This guide will act not only as a way to give you an idea of whether this game is right for you, but also how to set it up should you decide to go for it.

The first thing you need to do is buy the game itself. Ironically, this is one of the most difficult things to do. Since it's introduction in 2001 "Final Fantasy XI" has not only grown to be one of the key online games of the market, but it has had several expansion packs released in it's name. Granted, since then Square-Enix has graciously been selling all the expansions and such in one affordable bundle, but you absolutely NEED the original core game or none of these expansion packs will work! Since the games are now very cheap I recommend just buying all of them at once. Don't worry about the cost too much: Overall these disks will cost you less then $40 bucks.

However, before buying the games you'll need to decide which version of the game you want to play on. The game is available on three systems: Playstation 2, XBox 360, and PC. As usual there are pros and cons to each version (outside of the fact that you need to own the system of the version you buy), but easily the most handicapped version is the PS2 version of the game. Released in 2004 (about a year after the PC version), the PS2 version suffers from the fact that it needed a massive hard drive to store the content.

A hard drive Sony had failed to deliver for years. They finally got around to releasing it as a bundle with this game. The beast retailed for $200 or more, and most games never fully supported the hard drive. The game that shipped with the hard drive was the very basic core game. The "Treasures of Aht Urhgan" expansion pack was released shortly afterwards, but the PS2 release was a financial failure in general, so the rest of the expansion packs were never released for it. This, in turn, makes the PS2 game very incomplete to what the other systems can offer.

To add more insult to jury, Sony never officially made a keyboard for the game (that I know of), and if you had one of the slim PS2 units (since by that time they had replaced the original bulky units) you couldn't attach the hard drive to the system, meaning you couldn't play the game with this unit. Since most people out there only have slim PS2 units (and coupled with the hard drives increasing rarity), this version should be crossed off the list.

The next logical step would be to go for the XBox 360 version. This will make your life much easier. For starters the core game that you buy also comes with three of the four expansion packs (the forth you can buy seperately). Second is that the Xbox 360 comes with a built in hard drive, and the only way this would cost you a chunk of change is if you want to swap your old one with a bigger one (not a bad idea if I must say). This is also a rarity in that this is one of the few online games for XBox 360 that doesn't require you to have an XBox Live account.

Sadly, this game does NOT make use of the XBox Microphone that is so prominate to the XBox Live experience. That said, Microsoft does make a text add-on for the controller specifically for this game, and you can always buy a keyboard if you please, so this isn't much of an issue in the long run.

The third option you have is to get it for the PC. Square-Enix now bundles all the expansion packs together like they do for XBox 360. The PC will likely be least the version that gives you the least amount of trouble, as the PC comes with practically everything you need right out of the box. The only thing you need to be aware of is your PC specs and whether or not your machine can play something as massive as "Final Fantasy XI" in the first place. I won't go into any more detail as PC's differ from owner to owner, but most people who use their PC's for gaming know what I'm talking about anyway.

Now it's time to install the damn thing, and I have to warn you about this upfront: Yes, you have to install it regardless which version you buy, and it's going to take hours to do so. In fact, you'll spend so much time installing it, filling out information, and waiting for those patches that are important to get right away, that I would honestly recommend that you don't plan on playing the game that day. I would make some lunch, put on some music, start the installation, and prepare for the mundane task of installing the game.

The good thing about this is that provided you don't uninstall the game you should only have to do this once, so be thankful for that much. The installation is pretty self-explanitory so I won't go into too much detail here, but there are a few things I'm going to mention that you should keep in mind. You will be creating user-names, passwords, and getting confirmation numbers. Right all this stuff down and keep it with the game. If you lose this information and something happens to your file or account, you will need it if Square-Enix's customer support is going to fix your problem.

Then you have to create a user name, and be prepared for the first few you want to already be taken by someone else. Same thing with passwords. Don't get frustrated. This will take up to three hours to do everything. So make sure you've got time put aside, paper to take notes, and patience. Don't stop in the middle of installation or else you will have to start all over again. Remember: Once you do this you never have to do it again.

You've now installed the game, signed up for Square-Enix's PlayOnline server, and are ready to play. Again, chances are you won't be in the mood to play now that you've spent a few hours on the installation, but if you have another hour to spare you may want to finish some basic steps that will insure you're ready to play the following day. Activate your account. While you will need a credit card for this, please keep in mind that the first 30 days of playing "Final Fantasy XI" are free (a trial run if you will).

The game will then open with a 7 minute opening sequence detailing the storyline (yes, there is one for THIS particular online game). After that it's time to create a character. There are many different kinds of races, genders, breeds, and so forth of characters you can choose from. While most veteran Final Fantasy fans will know what these races are and what will be best for them, newcomers may want to stick with a common soldier, which is an ideal character for a beginner.

Next you design your character. This I leave entirely up to you. Once your character is created I suggest saving your data, turning off the machine, and come back to it tomorrow. By now you'll have spent close to 4 hours with this thing and you'll have no game time to show for it. Since the world of "Final Fantasy XI" is massive and big, it can be daunting to figure out where to being or how to play. Best to save that for when you're relaxed.

The final step is to actually play the game. At this point I have to leave you because there are so many ways to play the game, so many things to do, that there is no way I can help you with it. The only thing you need to know at this point is that you are assigned to a random server and can only change servers when you buy a Passport Card. I believe this was done to insure that all the servers are used properly, but it does make hooking up with your friends more difficult then it needs to be.

Other then that though meeting people online is half the fun of online games, and joining quests will be more then enjoyable. There's so much to do, that simply exploring the town will be an adventure in itself. So expect the unexpected and prepare to have a great time playing "Final Fantasy XI."