MY MORROWIND CHARACTER: I discovered a cult
CAIUS COSADES: fuck. ass. I gotta get high as fuck and think about this for a couple days. shit. go murder some crabs while I fuckin, pontificate.
when you get to your first big story guy and he goes "shit. i need to write some letters and pull some strings, can you return in a couple days. here's some money, enjoy the city, come back on thursday" my brain chemistry got rearranged
that was one of the most immersed i've ever felt in a fantasy world. it's not in service of you, there are things moving in the background that you're not involved with and you have to wait for them to align in a way where you can get involved
that and it explicitly gives you freedom to just explore without a guiding goal, which is a delightful design trick to get even the most objective-addicted player a chance to stop and smell the roleplaying roses