No.136499
For anyone looking to jump on the Fate/ train for the new anime, here's a quick guide of what you probably want to go through. I'm also going to assume you're committed to this enough to dive head-in to the VN. If you're looking to test the waters first, you can try out the ufotable anime and then come back, there will be some spoilers you get from doing this but you probably already know most of them from hanging around otaku circles. Also, my knowledge isn't perfect so I may be missing some things.
Step 1: Read the VN
Download the Mirror Moon TL of the enhanced Realta Nua version with the ero scenes from the original game patched back in. The TL isn't perfect, or even really that good, but it's what everyone you talk to will be quoting and the official TLs for Fate have proven far worse in the past. Play through all three routes in order, try to get all the bad ends, but make sure you get Mind of Steel and Sparks Liner High as those "bad ends" are on par with actual alternate endings.
Adaptations: The stay night route technically has anime and manga adaptations, but both do the old VN adaptation thing of mashing routes together and are generally low quality in terms of art and animation.
The UBW route has an awful movie adaptation and a quite good TV anime. It does favor style over accuracy to the lore, which upsets some autists, but it's overall a solid adaptation and the only good way to see these characters in motion. There's also a manga, but it's pretty new.
The HF route has a movie trilogy which looks pretty, but rushes the plot way too much, ignores the VN writing to an excessive degree, and rewrites thinks to make Sakura look better. Only watch if you're a sakugafag or a Sakurafag. There's also a manga for this, which is really good at covering the whole story with great visualizations (especially for the lewd scenes), but it's got a lot more to cover before it's complete.
All of this is to say, you really have no choice but to read the VN because the only good substitute only covers the middle third and the game makes you do routes in order so you have to play that part anyway.
Step 2: Round out the core trilogy
Hollow Ataraxia, a fandisc VN, is the next step and the official not-quite-sequel. It introduces a lot of new stuff to the world. Anime never ever.
Zero is a LN prequel and completes the core Fate/ experience everything else is based upon. Some autists will complain that there are minor inconsistencies that make it non-canon to the game, but the game itself doesn't cover the "canon" ending its followups use so it doesn't fucking matter. The anime is pretty good and adds as much as it loses, so you can safely substitute it if you're tired of reading.
Step 3: Relevant spin-offs
Apocrypha is garbage in all its forms and has only the barest of connections to SF since it's a full-on alternate timeline. However, one of the characters (and his family) has his proper timeline version appear in the El-Melloi Case Files as an important character so it sort of leads into that. Also features Red Saber and Jeanne, two fan favorite Saber clones who show up a lot in fandom stuff.
Lord El-Melloi Case Files is pretty good and a few of its characters play major roles in SF. It also delves more into the world of magi and is the one spin-off you definitely should check out for this. Anime is solid, but incomplete so you probably want the LNs.
Tsukihime is a VN from before Fate that takes place in an alternate world line with very different rules than in Fate, but it does cover elements of the lore that nothing else on this list touches on that become relevant in SF. There is no anime, there never was, it does not exist.
You are now equipped to watch Strange Fake, but you can also check out the LNs or manga for it if you're eager to keep going. Both are good.
No.136500
Step 4: Not so relevant spin-offs
Prisma Illya is the major one and you should definitely give it a go at any point after step 2. It starts as a magical girl celebration of the main Fate materials with a more light-hearted tone that desires a happy ending for best girl, but it evolves into a more serious story that arguably does the VN better than the VN. Still ongoing because the author is channeling the spirit of Miura with the release schedule. The first two parts of the series have very good anime and you should definitely watch them, but the production values drop off in 3rei while the manga art becomes godly so definitely switch over to that when you get there.
Extra (and CCC) are another alt universe which features different versions of characters from the VN in the future. It is a proper RPG with actual game mechanics, but you're still just there for the story. It's fine and lets you pal up with cool servants. The Shaft anime for Extra is a what-if scenario that's not well regarded but does have that Shaft aesthetic. The CCC manga is still ongoing but is pretty fun with nice art.
Step 5: Do not touch the gacha
Grand Order is gacha trash not worth anyones time. It has a lot of adaptations that aren't really worth it. The anime projects skip the first four arcs of the game because the writing is bad fanfiction and nobody is dumb enough to pour money into those. The later arcs improve to mediocre fanfiction so you can watch Babylonia and the various movies if you're looking to turn your brain off and enjoy the pretty fights.
Step 6: Comedy spin-offs
Carnival Phantasm is a hilarious series of gags based around the Fate VN and Tsukihime, leaning on Fate more. Absolute must watch once you clear at prerequisites.
Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan is a chill cooking anime with a lot of HA-esque moments of the VN characters hanging out and having fun with some neat character moments. Good for taking a break anytime after you finish HA.
Classic doujinshi, take a look through them. There are some real gems from before it all just became template GO porn.
No.136504
i don't know if the others are bad because I've only tried the ufotable ones and I didn't feel like the expanded franchise was good so I never tried. Tsukihime bored me in the prologue chapters. Also you didn't mention Kara no Kyoukai which, while is an alternative tsukihime, does expand upon how the human magic system works
No.136516
>>136504Fate/stay in the kitchen is the closest thing we have to the HA day sections.
Prisma Illya is the closest thing we have to the HA night sections.The only reason I added Tsukihime to the list is because
Assassin's master is a dead apostle and those don't really come up anywhere else in Fate. I wouldn't be surprised if stuff from other Nasuverse works showed up at some point later, but this is already a lot to work through.
No.136527
>>136516The Tohno family in Heaven's Feel come up in both Tsukihime works