Bullshit. Sometimes the original game is unplayable for various reasons, like U6 due to the UI, or Marathon due to original being Mac only and the more modern Windows port giving me motion sickness. But the Ultima 6 Project felt very much like an Ultima game to me
Bullshit yourself. U6 is UI is prefectly fine, never mind that on release it was absolutely groundbreaking. Your getting motion sickness in Marathon is hardly the game's fault. I can't comment on U6P, but I have repeatedly said that Lazarus is
not a replacement for U5. When your remake changes the engine, the graphics, the world, the dungeons, the combat, the out-of-combat gameplay, and just about
everything, you're not playing a faithful remake with a better UI, you're playing a different game that just happens to share the same story and some of the writing. That I still list Lazarus as a must-play alongside U5 is a testament to how good Lazarus itself is. It's also why I don't agree with your "remakes can never be good enough" - Lazarus is an awesome, awesome game. It's just too different from U5 to replace it. I love both and replay both.
You may be correct, though I have to insist I'm NOT a graphics whore.
Playing the rose-tinted glasses argument, complaining that Lazarus is a turn off because DS engine is ugly, your insistence that one must have played the old games at the time in order to appreciate them...
Ultima 5 may have the best turn-based combat system of the Ultima series, though I admit I still have yet to play Ultima 6.
U5's is better, though personally I'm not a fan of Ultima combat systems in general, and I really don't like 5's. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too slow and tedious and grindy. Thank god the game isn't combat-focused to begin with, it'd be a nightmare otherwise. I don't think I ever managed to reach level 8 on any of my playthroughs - I get to level 7, notice I've got hours of grinding ahead, and just go to Doom. Doing Doom without the top tier spells is.... interesting.
Edit: Also, try the Magic Candle.
This. MC1 is a fantastic and highly underrated Ultima-lookalike with better combat than Ultima, and almost all encounters are set and handplaced, something quite rare at the time. It's pretty nonlinear, with a quite large world and a LOT of people to talk to - notetaking is required. It's got one of the most original and elaborate endings of any CRPG - you spend the entire game gathering everything you need for a complex ritual, and the endgame is peforming said ritual. It's extremely satisfying. None of the sequels are as good unfortunately, but it's a good series overall - including Bloodstone, which was released last but is a prequel to the series.