Let me explain, when Oblivion came out I remember people thinking it was awesome because you could do whatever you want (like ignore the main quest), the NPCs had their own lives (like, they did things other than stand around waiting on the player), there was a crafting system, etc. But other than first person view and graphics, I can't think of anything that Ultima 7 doesn't do better than the elder scrolls. In Oblivion/skyrim, NPCs mostly mill about at home or at work, but in U7, they went to work and WORKED. The trainer trains, the baker bakes bread (that you can steal), the pub patrons actually consume food brought to them by the bar keep. It gives the world a lot more life when the NPCs actually produce things and consume things, and you can produce whatever they do. I remember baking tons of bread to make money. There are of course side quests, caves/dungeons to explore etc. When I went back to this after playing the elder scrolls games, I was shocked that I had forgotten U7 beat the elder scrolls to the punch on so many things. And this we back when I had to run a program called MoSlo to run this game on a 486DX. Pre-Pentium. if you like immersive RPGs where you do what you want in a living world, this is the best. Still.
