The first episode was an almost verbatim adaptation of Fate/stay night's Prologue, which meant that storywise it was primarily Rin being a screwup and Archer continuously reminding her that she's a screwup. It had a much softer and lighter feel than Fate/Zero due to the all snarking going around, but it made the mandatory Nasuverse exposition more tolerable at the very least. The characters also were more vibrant and animated in comparison to the somewhat stiff animation from Fate/Zero's Episode 1, which also contributed to that feel.
This episode also had a lot of different background shots, as if ufotable really wanted to flaunt their digital photography prowess. Lots of various scenery showcased here during Rin's tour of the city, and basically whenever Rin moves from one location to another in general. These actually looked great. On the other hand, the use of the dynamic camera for some scenes were kind of a mixed bag.
As for that Lancer vs Archer scene, the choreography and animation really showcased the weight and speed of that fight. You really get a sense of how crazy these battles between heroes actually are, and the fight itself was easy to follow still (for me, anyway). There was a prerecorded QA session with Miura, Sudou, and Kondo where they stated that one of the key things they really wanted to focus on for this new FSN was the animation, and this first episode really drives that point home.
Oh yeah, the music was great.
