I played and finished Gateway last year and really liked it. I have Treasures in-bound, which has always intrigued me because of it's "A.I." that supposedly can let some of the characters fall in love, or something like that.
Plus that cover image is epic.
I've read some pretty mixed reviews on Silver Blades. IIRC Scorpia trashed it for being too hack-n-slash-y, too, and really linear.
I mean, I've got the game. I probably should at least go through the motions since I've never played it. But, you're probably right. I wanted something less of a soul crusher than Ultima or Wizardry. Something more familiar. And you can't get more familiar than a series of games that are all nearly identical to one another engine-wise. I did like the water-focus of Gateway, too. I think out of all of them Curse of the Azure Bonds is probably my favorite so far, but I'm rather attached to that story and those characters so I'm biased I know. I wish the stories were more tightly integrated with these games.