Are you and your friend big Fate fans?

Yes I would consider myself more of a fate fan and him more of a typemoon fan, seeing how he is really big on the Kara no Kyoukai series. I haven't read all of the VN yet but I have finished 2 out of the 3 routes. I read a few volumes of Apocrypha, watched all the anime that exists. Read the Illya manga. I even go to Fate Cosplay meet ups at various conventions!

Though I wish I read more of the other series, I do own the Fate/Extra game trilogy.

Nice! Are you in the US? I love how much support Fate has been seeing as of late. Like the Heavens Feel theater showings.

Yes I am located in the US! I live in NJ and always go to various anime movie showings in the city with friends. The Heaven's Feel showing was amazing.

That sounds like fun! Do you think there's any particular reason the JP version of FGO is so popular in NA?

I think its the fact that Fate/Stay Night is insanely popular in NA that when FGO was released a lot of the Fate fans all started to play it. Especially the idea of being able to summon our favorite characters in the anime we enjoyed really hooked us in. Then the introduction of lesser known servants from other series and even brand new servants kept us playing. I've seen many people quit to wait for NA version and I have seen people just come back to play due to how long it took for the NA version to even come out.

Not to mention as a community be it in FB groups or reddit etc. It was always fun to show off to each other our servant progression, our rolls, etc. And seeing someone succeed really baited others to wanting to roll as well.