Random Fate thoughts.

1) Fate is the first RPG I've seen where character creation starts with (and focuses more on) who the character is rather than what the character can do.

2) Fate Core, specifically, seems to be one of very few games that embraces "it's done when there's nothing else to remove" rather than "it's done when there's nothing else to add" in terms of its ruleset.  Its design seems to be a result of deliberately removing every rules element that could be removed while keeping the essential nature of the system intact.

3) While it's heavily narrative, it's striking how strongly mechanical several of the narrative aspects are - gaining Fate points is very explicit, without much of the looseness found in similar mechanics in other systems (Bennies in Savage Worlds, even a lot of the Artha awards in Burning Wheel, etc.).