I think this is a big part of why I still enjoy playing Morrowind more than pretty much all newer open world games.
It felt like you were really in a place, and the lack of HUD directing you to "points of interest" made it that much more exciting and interesting when you discovered something new.
> It felt like you were really in a place, and the lack of HUD [...]
In a word - immersion. The vast majority of RPG games suck at it. In-your-face tutorial pop-ups, GPS quest trackers, complex HUDs, full-screen menus, etc.
For a taste of what properly immersive RPGs are play the Gothic series.
"Other games of this era, and even a lot of modern games, are content to resort to more video-gamey designs that remind you you're playing a video game. Gothic 1 and 2 took the extra steps to ensure that everything was as immersive as they could possibly be." [1]
Videos that give a good overview of the immersive design of the games: [2], [3].
Guide on what exactly to play:
1. Gothic 1
2. Gothic 2 Gold Edition
3. The chronicles of Myrtana Archolos - a fan-made total conversion mod for Gothic 2 that follows in the spirit of the past two games. It's as high in quality as a professional production would be. Seriously. See [4] for a preliminary review.
It felt like you were really in a place, and the lack of HUD directing you to "points of interest" made it that much more exciting and interesting when you discovered something new.