I'm a gamer who absolutely loves RPGs and I want to start playing Final Fantasy for the first time. I've never played Final Fantasy before in my entire life but I constantly hear the name mentioned following the lines of "the best RPG of all time."

I know this series has tons and tons of lore and I want to get the most of it. When it comes to gaming, lore is probably the most important aspect of the game next to strategy for me. There are sooo many different Final Fantasy titles and I was wondering what game do you guys recommend starting with. My only requirement is that the game cost less than $40, the game is on the PC (or can be emulated on the PC) and it is really fun. Also, I would prefer that the game lasts longer than 20 hours. Most RPGs take hundreds of hours to complete and I know Final Fantasy games are known to take forever to complete but I just wanted to state that fact.

On another side note, I am a massive completionist meaning that I will be doing ALMOST ALL sidequests in the game.