[quote=@Crimson Raven]
My exposure to Fate/ was in the order of Zero then Stay Night, which from what I have heard is a [i]horrible[/i] way to start the series. 

In my defense, they were both on Netflix. With all this hype I've been considering getting into the Nasuverse. I'm not entirely sure where to begin though. I've heard and read many differing opinions on it.
[/quote]

If you mean F/SN UBW (Unlimited [s]Budget[/s] Blade Works), that's really not the best way to understand anything at all. Also, Zero is riddled with spoilers that assume that you know the content in the proper order to appreciate them in their fullness (*eyes Zouken's rape worms and poor Sakura*).

The real best way to understand anything at all would be watching the original anime adaptation of F/SN, by DEEN. It may not be the best anime ever, but it lays the groundwork of the franchise properly, whereas UBW assumes that you are already a Fate fan and knows what happened in the Fate route, which the ufotable anime doesn't reference at all. You can completely ignore DEEN's UBW movie, though. It's not 100% bad but the ufotable series excels it in every way possible simply for having more time to work with, and... *cough*money*cough*.

Beginning with Zero and the UBW simply makes for a terrible entry on Fate as a whole because you are picking scraps of stories that you understand nothing about yet.

I would recommend the VN for the true Fate experience, but most people don't deserve to suffer the pains of clearing it (*eyes the bunch of nonsensical bad ends that punish you for having common sense*). So, steerign away from it might be for the best for anyone who's not an old, hardcore TM fan.