My first experience with Final Fantasy was back in 1991. One of my buddies had the SNES version of FFII. UNfortunately I summarily dismissed it.
The scope of the Fintal Fantasy games never hit me upon first seeing them. There was one time I created my own FFVII profile on a buddy's Playstation when I was only going to be there a day. Foolish me! When I went back to college in 1998, after my two-year hiatus, I got wrapped up in FFVII. I was hooked. When I escaped a relationship by delving completely into the depths of both FFVII and Zelda: OOT, I knew there was no escape for me.
For some reason, probably since I only played the demo, I never got into FFVIII. But after College I was all over FFIX. So much for 100 hours and my disposable time and income. That really helped get over a nasty breakup too.
Y'know, I think FFX helped me during a turbulent relationship as well.
Since I never got into FFXI, I got married. Now I am living my fantasy. . . ah.