Noob question re FFXIV

[IMBAD]

OK this is the first time I am playing a FF game.

I am totally puzzled and overwhelmed. But what concerns me quite a bit is really that a lot of the time I do not seem to be communicating with the game, is that lag?

For instance I start the game and even in the starting page I sit there pressing start for like ten minutes and eventually the game starts if I am lucky. Sometimes it just plays the starting movie over and over.

Then for instance the official ingame forum. OK I enrolled and filled in all the char details etc and then it asks me to chose my main character. I click any which way on a character, press accept etc and nothing happens.
So every time I want to go to their forum it directs me to the character page and tells me that as long as I have not chosen a main character I cannot get to the forum.
Problem is I am not able to chose the main character.

So I am wondering is there something like a strange lag for Australian players playing on NA server?
I press the relevant buttons and nothing seems to happen. My computer is brand new and according to computer books the award winning gaming computer and super fast etc. No other game giving me problems.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

BTW On this forum I cannot find a discussion forum for FFXIV.

[Andromeda]

I moved it to the right forum, you were looking for the Final Fantasy Online forum, which is for discussions on both FFXI and FFXIV, the two online games.

Judging from your post, you're playing on PC. What you're describing sounds more like a PC issue rather than a network issue. Just to be sure, can you list the relevant parts of your PC's specs, processor, RAM, video card. That'll help to know if the PC is an issue.

I assume you're on the screen that says, "Start", "Data Center", "Opening Movie" (optional if you've watched it), "Configuration" and "Exit" right? If you are there and having trouble getting I'll try to step through things with you. You'll want to select a Data Center for sure, though it'll prompt you to pick one. If you're planning to play on Ultros, then yeah that's going to be a NA server. Though it shouldn't be causing issues on the menu screen. If you press the zero key on the num pad part of your keyboard a couple times, it'll select "Start" and put into the character select screen. If you haven't seen the "Opening Movie" yet, that'll play first and then you'll get to make your character. If you have seen it, then you just select your character and head in. Pressing the zero key again on the num pad will get you into game.