Watch out for the retro nostalgia virus!
Ultima7 is a fantastic game, but…
The combat is about as exciting as singing Karaoke to Bill Shatner's Tambourine Man cover. Modern RPGs do battles much better (ToEE/Fallout)
The lore is interesting, yes, but so it is in Arcanum and Elder Scrolls.
The, the story is dramatic (Serpent Isle!), but IMHO it really needs a cinematic approach (Dragon Age).
… and so on, the comparison is absolutely pointless
So, why do I like U7 and want to play still? Because of Garriott's crazy vision of an alternate universe that constantly expanded episode by episode, yet remained mostly consistent (U1-U7p2). This is E-p-i-c continuity, and yet to be recaptured in modern games.
FYI, my personal "good old times"-achievement goes to:
(drumroll please)
Dragon Wars.
(Choices! Replayability! Insane character development! Newgame+! Whatever!)
Yep, they just don't make'em like this anymore.