I liked it. I'm not a super emotional guy, but the story actually succeeded in causing me to tear up a few times.
I don't watch a lot of fan films. Several of the ones that I have tried to watch have been pretty cringeworthy. Having said that, I've been greatly enjoying Star Trek Continues since the beginning; it's the one fan series I've seen that truly feels the most like a natural continuation of the original series... just with different actors.
One thing that has bothered me about certain fan productions is they seem to come from this mentality of thinking it would be cool to cram in as many references and callbacks as possible, and it just ends up coming across as forced and distracting. While this definitely had the most references out of any episode of Star Trek Continues to date (I think Chekov even briefly mentioned the Xindi), it all felt pretty organic to the plot.
When I saw Rayna, at first I assumed we were getting a sequel to Requiem for Methuselah (which would make sense, since I seem to recall Vic stating that it was his favorite episode), so I was relieved to find that the episode was much more than that. It sets itself apart from TOS by relying much more greatly on continuity than TOS ever did, or most 60s TV, for that matter- it's not the sort of thing I'd invite a newbie to watch- and examines Kirk's character in a way that we didn't quite get on TOS. But all that stuff comes together to make up a fairly unique plot that still strikes me as something that they could have done on the original series if it had gone on long enough (and if they'd been able to get the original actresses back).
It would be nice to live in a world where ethnicity is not an issue at all, but I guess I'll be the one to say that I thought it was kind of neat that a black actress played the role of one of Kirk's old flames, since that's another thing they would have probably been less likely to do in the 60s.
Not to invoke any controversy, but being aware that Vic Mignogna is a person of faith, I couldn't help wondering if there was supposed to be an additional layer of meaning in Kirk's conversation with the little girl. Either way, though there were moments where it definitely felt like Vic's more religious side was influencing the script, none of it was so "bonk bonk on the head" that it detracted from my overall enjoyment of the episode.
It was a fun surprise to see Sarai appear as the daughter Kirk never had; she was perfectly cast in the role. If you're not familiar with her, she does really cute recaps of Trek episodes on YouTube.
Oh, the new opening credits sequence is cool; I like the greater variety of planets on display; it helps to brighten up the intro.