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So I recently just finished the Kara no Kyoukai movies which were also made by Type Moon. Aside from one movie which I found fantastic, I thought the series was satisfactory overall. I did however like the character of Shiki and found the idea of a girl acting masculine with her feminine personality occasionally showing kind of cute. So my questions are:

-Is the character of Saber similar to Shiki?
-Does the series contain heavy abstract dialogue during the fight scenes, (talking about honor or whatnot) as I've heard
-Are there elements of drama/romance in the series?
-where could I find out what I need to know about the lore and the world, as to not be confused by the story, without spoiling

Thanks.

Edit: After finishing Fate/Zero, I strongly recommend all viewers new to the franchise to watch Fate/Zero before reading/watching Fate/Stay.

-Having seen both, they're both similar in being strong females, with quiet personalities, but they fight for different reasons. Saber actually does show a bit of a feminine side in one episode, especially, when she goes to fight one of the opponents.
-There is no heavy, abstract dialogue during the fight scenes. I don't know why anyone would say that, but no, there is not.
-There are some elements of drama/romance in several relatioships but it's fairly subdued
- Looking at your list, I do think that you'd enjoy it.

-I personally know *nothing* about the lore and the world, and was able to understand what was happening perfectly well. Pretty much everything you need to know is either told in the series or you can pick up from context very quickly. Anything that you do look up would be spoilers for the series, so I do not suggest going looking for anything until after you've watched it.

I think you'd enjoy it more if you watched fate/stay night followed by the film, Unlimited Transition Works and then this. You'd understand more about each of the families and characters too but I wouldn't say it's necessary. Also, if you watch it in this order, each adaptation is better than the last imo.

on the subject of the sequel, Fate/Stay Night, I believe that you should either play the visual novel first or skip right to Fate/Zero, since FSN's adaptions were just terrible and only serves as a spoiler to the winner of the Fourth Holy Grail War

Don't worry, I've been warned to stay far far away from fate/stay. However, I just want to know enough as to understand what is going unlike my experience with Kara no Kyoukai.(Because the movies were shown out of order) My only concern is that because fate/zero was done after fate/stay and UTW, there may be things said or done that the fanbase is expected to already know.

Just like lozteez said, either play the visual novel first or skip right to Fate/Zero. Playing FSN first will definitely make Zero more interesting, but starting with Zero won't really be a problem. It's a show you can watch with no previous knowledge of Fate/stay Night.

I watched the first episode and the show did a great job of explaining the premise. Yet I still feel that I'm missing out as some of the minor characters, especially the kids, I'm told are very important characters in fate/stay, and part of the enjoyment of fate/zero comes from seeing how much the characters have changed and developed over the years.

For those who have read the novels, would it be accurate to say that the visual novel is the "meat" of the franchise and that fate/zero is an expansion of the universe, for further enjoyment?
Having watched two episodes in, I really want to watch rather than read. What are your thoughts on watching fate/zero then reading the vn?
Also, would knowing the winner of the fourth war, from reading the vn, make watching fate/zero any less enjoyable? or does the show already assume you know the result?

Fate/ Stay Night Visual Novel is one of the highest selling visual novels in history, yes. But I do think that Fate/Zero is an entirely different species.

It had a pretty different tone with the F/SN anime or the VN. Ah, it's pretty similar to the third route of F/SN (which is haven't covered yet in anime series). While Fate/Stay Night VN is really good, Fate/zero is a different main course that even could possibly turned better than the Visual Novel (the common opinion that Gen Urobuchi (F/Z writer) is better than the original writer (Nasu) in writing may help, although in my opinion Nasu is a better concept creator than Gen)

tl;dr : Saying that Fate/Zero is only the expansion is an understatement. Better to think that they're different series since they cover two war that totally different in tone. (It's like calling World War II an expansion of World War I, which isn't really accurate way of speaking :p)

I'd consider them as a whole, personally. Yeah, you could probably experience one and not miss out on much. But, I think it's much more fulfilling to experience them together as one.

Alright, thanks for the replies. I'm reading through the visual novel right now but I'm still so tempted to watch the show first. The first few episodes of zero really impressed me, more so than any other series in the recent future; while the novel has yet to have the same effect.

It's indeed true that Nasu is superior to Gen in terms of concept. You can even say Gen benefitted from the deep lore Nasu already had created through Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night, as you can see in the well utilized Magic Association and Church squabbles. Plus, many of the dark elements Gen uses are merely elements Nasu had already created, but upped one step further. Gen is a great writer true but he's pretty average in several areas which Nasu complemented well. One can say those two made a good combination.

Honestly, what people hates most of Nasu, which is something Nasu himself makes no attempt of hiding, is his tendency to always have at least some form of happy end after all the struggling even if he has to force it a little. Gen on the other hand shamelessly dashes all hopes and completely crushes the characters in despair. That's more or less his trademark.

watch F/Z --> read F/S --> marathon F/Z once the BD out (it's worth it).

and maybe read the F/Z LN too if you had time.

I would have if F/Z had completed airing. I'm starting to regret it now, having discovered the results of F/Z from reading F/S.

It doesn't matter either way. F/Z spoils F/SN, F/SN spoils F/Z. You will get spoiled no matter what

I have only watched the first five episodes of F/Z yet that was enough to thoroughly impress and create an interest in the series for me, enough so that I wanted to know the back story(by reading F/S) so I could appreciate F/Z more.
14 days into the vn and it just hasn't done it for me. The side characters just seem so boring and typical compared to the ones I've seen in F/Z. The main character is the worst though, from his patriarchal remarks about not letting Saber fight "because she's a girl" to his childish ideals.
So far the entire game has been an endless cycle of: "I must protect her", to severely fatal wounds that the character just sleeps through, to corny and cliched awkward romance moments. Does the story change, or is the whole novel like this? I hear there are two other arcs, are they any different in tone?

And yes, while I have only seen a glimpse of both series (5 episodes of F/Z and 14 days of F/S) it just amazes me how different the two seem, and the impact they left on me. And I understand that watching either F/Z or F/S will spoil the other, but at this point I'm regretting spoiling the one that I care about.

Let me start of by saying that Shirou is more likeable in the other two routes because he doesn't go on and on about how Saber shouldn't fight, etc. The general consensus seems to be that Fate is the worst route out of the three (though I personally still think it's good). The second route, Unlimited Blade Works, is a lot more interesting and Heaven's Feel is much darker than the other two. HF is definitely the route that's most similar to Fate/Zero and it concludes a lot of the plot points which were "started" in Fate/Zero.

Also, there is a reason as to why Shirou's wounds heal over night.

And he should already know it since you already know it by day 14 of Fate. May I say Avalon is also a plot-element in Fate/Zero and used in a very similar way

Since I'm not enjoying the novel too much, I should...

1) man up and finish the whole novel before watching F/Z
2) finish the fate route, then watch
3) give up, and watch F/Z as far as it goes (currently seventh episode of season two) and continue the novel, while waiting for the rest of the episodes to be released
4) give up, and watch F/Z and wait for it to be completed before reading the rest of the novel, if it still interests me.

I'm pretty sure you'll start to enjoy the novel much more once you start the UBW route. What day of the Fate route are you on?

I stopped at Day 14 right after