Beginners Guide to Fate/Stay Night by /u/AdelKoenig [1]

Fate/Stay Night[2] (F/SN) is a Japanese Visual Novel[3] produced in 2004 by Type-Moon as an adult game[4] for Windows. In 2007, Fate/Stay Night Ralta Nua was released as an updated version for PS2 with a rating for ages 15 and up.

F/SN was written by Kinoko Nasu, and covers the story of Emiya Shirou

[5] during the 5th Holy Grail War in the city of Fuyuki, Japan. The full VN takes an estimated 50-60 hrs to read, similar to 120 episodes of a 25min anime.

Routes

F/SN is divided into 3 routes: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven's Feel. These are three separate stories, on parallel timelines, with sequential themes.

1st Route - Fate

[6]

Theme: "Oneself as an ideal"

This path is both an introduction route and Saber's

[7] route.
In Fate we are given most of the god-tier world-building the author Nasu is known for. It also tells the complete story about Saber, who she is and what she is after by taking part in the war.

2nd Route - Unlimited Blade Works

[8] (UBW)

Theme: "Struggling with oneself as an ideal"

This is both the Archer
[9] and Tohsaka Rin

[10] route.
Most of the mysteries left unanswered in the Fate scenario are revealed and things start to go very "wrong" in this route. The reveals in UBW makes you re-think everything you knew about the previous story.

3rd Route - Heaven's Feel

[11] (HF)

Theme: "The friction with real and ideal"

This is both the Conclusion act and Matou Sakura's

[12] Route.
The increasing development of Emiya Shirou's character reaches its final act. If you thought things went wrong in UBW, this route laughs at it and redefines what the word "wrong" means.

Versions, Translations, and Patches

In 2012, The Realta Nua version was released as three separate .exe files (one per route) for Windows.

Realta Nua changes:

Adult content was removed (age rating is approximately 15+), with erotic scenes replaced with alternate scenes,

Fully voice acted,

A bonus ending called 'Last Episode' once all 5 endings have been completed,

Many new event CGs (with some of the original art assets touched up as well),

Around 20 new BGM tracks,

New and more dynamic animation effects in many scenes,

Different OP videos than original version,

Text is generally edited for quality, as well as to meet age rating.

The game has never been officially released in English. It was fan translated by the group mirror-moon[13] .

/u/jacktheinfinite101 [14] and Koto have made a patch[15] for Realta Nua PC that is hosted on Beast Lair's forums. Their patch combines the original version, Realta Nua, and an English translation.

Jack & Koto's patch features:

English Translations

The choice between the original H-Scenes or the Realta Nua alternate scenes.

The option to view de-censored images.

Can choose 2007 release or Remixed 2012 release background music by track

Has all the OP videos from both the original and Realta Nua

And many other features

Jack and Koto's patch for Realta Nua is the best way to read the VN. See /u/torik0 [16] 's F/SN VN Installation Guide[17] for more info.

The Sequel & Prequel

Fate/Hollow Ataraxia[18]

Fate/Hollow Ataraxia (F/HA) is the 2005 visual novel sequel to F/SN. It has a complete translation[19] . Installation information can be found and the bottom of the F/SN VN Installation Guide linked above. F/HA is set 6 months after F/SN and is a mix of all the different F/SN endings. It can be read any time after finishing the 3 routes of F/SN

Fate/Zero[20]

Fate Zero (F/Z) is the 2006 light novel prequel to F/SN, written by Gen Urobuchi[21] . F/Z develops the story of the 4th Holy Grail War that takes place in the same location but 10 years prior to the events of F/SN.

Anime Adaptations

Ufotable[22]

In 2011, a 2 season anime adaptation for Fate/Zero[23] was produced by Ufotable. F/Z was the first time that an anime got free streamed on a world wide scale subtitled in 8 different languages. Fate/Zero was very well received, qualified as "magnificent" by most anime fans; it is currently considered the best Type-Moon adaptation and one of the highest quality anime that ever aired in Japanese TV for it's movie-like production values.

In the fall of 2014, Ufotable started airing a 2 season anime adaptation of the 2nd F/SN route titled Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works][24] This series is currently between seasons, and will resume in April.

Ufotable has also announced that it will be producing an animated film adaptation of Heaven's Feel[25] . Production will begin after Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works] finishes airing.

Studio DEEN[26]

DEEN made an anime adaptation of Fate/Stay Night in 2006. It used the Fate route as its base story, but tried to adapt all three routes into one. It is widely considered a bad adaptation, as the attempt to combine the routes only introduced spoilers without context, and it failed to characterize Shirou accurately.
It is recommended that you do not watch DEEN's Fate/Stay Night.

DEEN also made a movie adaptation of UBW in 2010. Because of time constraints, it is basically just the fight scenes without much context. It also suffers from the same problems as the anime adaptation, such as terrible graphics

[27] .

Read/Watch Order

If you stay away from DEEN there is no bad way into Fate/, but because of the relationship between F/SN and F/Z, there is a best way. In order to get the story in the intended sequence, and to prevent spoilers, here are some suggestions:

Recommended

Entire F/SN visual novel -> Fate/Zero -> UBW anime -> HF movies.

Alternate

Fate route of the VN -> UBW anime -> HF movies -> Fate/Zero.

Anime only

UBW anime -> HF movies -> Fate/Zero.

Please note that F/HA can be read anytime after the 3 routes of F/SN.

If you choose to skip the VN and the Fate route, /r/FateStayNight[28] is currently doing a VN walkthrough[29] of the Fate route. It is not intended to be a replacement for the VN, but it is better than nothing.

What about watching F/Z First?

Watching F/Z first is not recommend for several reasons. Fate/Zero was written with the intent that the readers have already played all 3 routes of the visual novel. It skims through the concept and rules of the world as it assumes they are already known. Fate/Zero will spoil several major character identities throughout F/SN.

That being said, watching F/Z first won't ruin F/SN for you. You will be going through a different experience than what was intended, but it will still be enjoyable. It will change your perspective on the characters and events while you read/watch F/SN. There are plenty of more twists and turns so don't let this detract you from reading/watching F/SN! If watching F/Z first, giving F/Z a rewatch once finished with the 3 routes of F/SN is recommended.

FAQ

> So, should I read the H-Scenes or the RN alternates?

This is a topic of some debate. Nasu is infamous for his terrible writing in H-Scenes. However, Realta Nua censored out all references to sex and abuse. This changes the story, especially in Heaven's Feel. The recommendation for those who don't want to see hilariously bad hentai, is to turn the H-scenes off for Fate, and UBW, but leave them on for HF, and use the skip function (ctrl) freely. For those who are absolutely against reading any part of the H-scenes, but still want to see the themes relating to abuse are recommended to turn H scenes on when Shinji is in a scene or mentioned starting from Day 5 of HF and on Day 14 to make sure H scenes are on through the last Shinji scene. The next update to Jack and Koto's patch will and a new switch for violence related content.

> I have a MAC, can I still read the VN?

Yes! If you use a program like WINE, you will be able to read the VN on a MAC. More information in the F/SN VN Installation Guide linked above.

> I watched Fate/Zero EP1 but I don't understand what's going on.

Fate/zero: How the Holy Grail War stuff works[30] . This an amazing post by /u/meteorMatador [31] about the Nasuverse.

> What other works are related to Fate/Stay Night?

This handy guide
[32] is a little dated, but it will point one in the right direction.