Personally I found the storylines of the earlier Ultimas to be equal to anything made now, Ultima IV was fairly simple but very strong with its focus on a never ending quest to become a better man, to acknowledge your flaws and know that you'll never reach perfection but to always strive for it. That's pretty deep shit for an RPG, a quest that you can never win but are always pursuing, aint nobody got the balls to design a storyline like that now. V was a fucking mastrepiece, with so many themes explored including moral absolutism and past actions never being forgotten, and that for every virtue there is an equal and opposite. VI was simple again like IV but still so strong, with its simple message of racism and xenophobia being all too easy to fall into, and the Avatars actions coming back to haunt him again.
The Black Gate storyline is the story of the Fellowship to me, and fucking brilliant in its narrative approach, to see the Virtues supplanted so easily because of their essentially unreachable nature, and to see the easy answers of the Fellowship gain so much power so quickly. That's so fucking real to me, and i've not seen a religion/philosophy presented so well in any game before or since. Lots o games try and make better narratives now but to be honest I don't think they're doing anything revolutionary now, you rarely get games as convoluted as Ultima, and yet so powerfully simple. It's like Beethoven, simple rhythm and melody well put together making a masterpiece, rather than trying to be complicated from the get go.
In fact thats what i'd say is problem with a lot of modern narratives, far too heavy handed and preachy, unsubtle and blatant, whereas Ultima could do a much better job with a simple beginning such as Name, Job, Bye.
Fuck me, thats some deep fucking thinking for me, I need to lie down and rest me noggin.