Please tell me you aren't comparing the plot of episode 1 of Umineko (the introduction of the story) to the entirety of Higurashi...
Even the entirety of Umineko can't make up for a 1/100 of Higurashi. Up until the end it is still a mess in my opinion. I'd like to see you say otherwise though. I still stand by my case having finished the whole thing.
Oh, okay. Well, did you just read the manga of Umineko or have you read the VN too? Because the manga is hard to follow at times because the mangaka had to cut some things out.
Personally, I prefer Umineko for its extremely complex (even compared to Higurashi) murder mystery plot, very clever premise (I love the witch vs. human conflict and the red truths and all that), and its use of symbolism to foreshadow or represent basically everything with magic. I can understand why you would prefer Higurashi, but I think that Umineko is just an absolute masterpiece.
Maria is so fucking annoying. Honestly this might be the manga's fault itself, but the plot is nowhere as structured and well conceived as Higurashi. Maria is literally an annoying expositional mess that can't do anything but go uu- uu-, cry and do her stupid split personality.