The Misfortune of Trying to Start FFXIV

Alright,

I'll start off saying I use limited internet, so most of my attempts to install this game were from torrented clients found on reddit, but when I installed them, it'd load the game up, give me the ESRB warning, followed by the square enix logo.

Here's where we get to, if OpeningCutScene = 0, then I'll get a controller configuration option, I don't use a controller so I go past that, and nothing happens, blank screen, just cursor, no loading emblem or nothing. It doesn't ever load either, tried waiting it out. If I set it to skip the opening cut scene in my config file, then it foregoes asking me about a controller, and instead, just goes right on to the blank screen. No start screen when it should go to it, no opening movie when it should go to it.
I've reinstalled, I even burned up this month's decent internet to install the game completely from the launcher, still the same issue.

What I've done to fix this problem: Reinstall Deleted Configuration Folder Set Permissions every which way Updated drivers Changed Graphic Settings
It's also worth mentioning that I don't have a Config program, don't know why, it just never installs that function when I reinstalled the game repeatedly. I didn't bother playing during the Beta despite having access due to my 1.0 account, so I don't have the beta client. I've wasted upwards of 14gigs of internet on this game over the course of two month's internet budget, so another reinstall is not an option, not for a while at least. Minor downloads are even limited since it took a lot of this month's updating things again with the new patch, which again, thanks for putting up here.
The outline of my problem would be Black Screen with Cursor, but the only other issues I've found like mine were from 1.0, dealing with the 1.0 client. I'm running windows 8, so it naturally has updated Windows Media Player as well as IE, so nothing can be done there. Adjusted my cookies to accept 'all'. These were issues in 1.0, so it doesn't seem likely that it would work, but figured I'd try it anyway.

I know that even if I get the game functioning properly, the likelihood of getting in on my overpopulated server, and making a character and everything is unlikely, but i'd at least like to be at the unlikely stage, rather than the no-chance stage.

Thanks for your time, I hope a solution can be found.

Oh, and one more thing, the game isn't freezing at this point. It just isn't loading any further. If you try to exit the game, via Alt+F4, or from clicking the X at the top right corner, it brings up a selection box asking if you want to quit. This box creates sound when interacting with it, otherwise you have no sound what so ever, this box can be cancelled and it'll continue not loading anything further, and clicking Yes, will close the game out properly.