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Disclaimer: This review does NOT contain any spoilers storywise but it mentions character names. So if you prefer no spoilers at all, be warned. My rating is NOT based on a comparison between FMA and FMA:B since I have not yet finished watching the latter. Rather, this review is mostly based on my own impression of FMA alone. So let's get into the different categories:

Story: 7/10
The anime follows the Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse who committed a sin by trying to revive their mother through alchemy. The transmutation fails with Al losing his body and Ed his leg. To save his brother, Ed then sacrifices ... one of his arms to bind Al's soul to an armor piece. Fullmetal Alchemist is the story of the two brothers searching for a way to restore their bodies while dealing with issues of loss, greed, faith and morality. Most characters are shown as full of desires that drive them and sometimes haunt them and the villains are preying on those desires to further their own interests. It is loosely based on the same-titled manga from Hiromu Arakawa but diverges from it roughly halfway through. Personally, I liked the main story but thought that some twists it presented later on (e.g. gate) were out of place. I also think that the pacing was somewhat off since the series felt rather slow in the beginning while the ending was rather rushed in comparison. My biggest gripe, however, is the amount of episodes with "filler" side events (~7-8 of them) that have zero or very little effect on story and character development. Keep in mind that I don't generally dislike fillers. I mean, most of the main story was "filler" from a manga perspective but it was well made, so I don't mind. But these episodes were just subpar compared to the rest. Due to these issues, my rating is "only" a 7/10 here.

Art: 8/10
The art style is unique and pretty dark which I very much like regarding the heavy topics the anime tries to tackle. The shading and character design was well made and the fight scenes are fluid. Unfortunately, background design didn't seem to get as much love leaving some sceneries bland and lacking detail. Besides that, it holds up well for an almost 20y old production.

Sound: 9/10
The OST was great, I never had a moment where it felt off. It brought out emotions where it had to and created a well-rounded atmosphere for the story to unfold. I watched the series subbed and thoroughly enjoyed the voice cast. Gluttony and Envy were annoying but maybe that was part of their character. All in all, no complaints here.

Character: 6/10
This was a mixed bag for me. Some characters were well done, some not fleshed out enough while others were plain annoying or did not seem to think/act on their own.

The Good: Hughes and Scar were my favorites since they were well fleshed out and had good character development. I also liked the portrayal of Roy and Lust, especially with their backstory and inner struggles. Armstrong was always worth a laugh.

The Bad: Ed was decent but his morals were all over the place and he lacked a clear power progression. Sometimes he would kick ass while he seemed utterly useless and weak in other situations. Winry and Izumi were mildly annoying more often than not. Just didn't like how their character's were portrayed. Hohenheim and Dante got too little screen time and almost no character development. Would've liked some more here.

The Ugly: Archer all the way. What was the purpose behind this character? Annoyed me to no end. Rose was a non-factor and the story could've done without her. Gluttony was boring and Wrath was...random. Sadly, I also have to include Al here. I realize that he's still a kid but he was portrayed as being very naive and stupid most of the times. Especially towards the end, it was simply too overdone. For a main character kinda disappointing.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Regardless of the flaws mentioned above, I enjoyed watching the story unfold. The enjoyment was tampered a bit through the (unnecessary) side stories but the series still kept my interest until the very end.

Overall: 8/10
Fullmetal Alchemist didn't leave me breathless and/or rethinking my values in life. The story and character development also showed weaknesses, so neither a 10/10 or a 9/10 feels justified. However, I still enjoyed the series quite a bit. It is genuinely entertaining and I would recommend it to anyone who likes the alchemy theme and wants a good mix between shonen and seinen with some depth and twists storywise.