Ultima 1 & 2 are pretty old games. Are they truly worth getting?

Ok, thanks.

My pleasure. :)

I played U1+2 I guess around 30 years after they were released. Good games, but seriously 'out-there' compared to the later ones :)

I couldn’t really get into the pre-7 Ultimas, but your mileage may vary.

How about 3? You have to buy 1-3 as a trilogy. Same with 4-6 (except 4, also by itself for free). In regards to the previous reply, hard for me to guess how a new player would feel about them, I spent my life playing the series and early games were not nearly as old as they are now (though they still had to be compared to 4-6).

I found 1 enjoyable except one part near the end that plays differently and I at least feel has horrible controls. 2 is painful at the start, but once you got past early obstacles was not so bad.

From what i can tell, 6 and 7 are kind of the "sweet spot" of the series for many people. I'm partial to the 7-9 trilogy myself. But that part is also the most controversial. 7 and 7-2 are often considered "peak Ultima", 8 is flawed because of development problems, but it has good elements - 9 .. i'm not even sure if its considered good or bad, i like it personally.

I always considered the Underworlds as a "side series" with it's own character. Mostly also because it was developed by Looking Glass, who are a legendary Studio in themselves and have inspired a lot of games even after their studio went down. So if you like Ultima Underworld, be sure to look into later Looking-Glass games as well :) And the games that were inspired by them ( see the sub-genre of the "immersive sim" ).

I started with Ultima 3 but really loved 4 and 5, those are my favorites. I was too busy with family and life after 5 and for many years did not have a computer.. I did finally a couple of years ago get and finish ultima 1. I have tried Ultima 7, 8 , and 9 but have not been able to get into any of those. I also tried 2 but found it deeply flawed on modern systems.