The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is possibly one of the most immersive games ever programmed.
The story is kind of weak and bland, but I think it also allows you to fully assume the role of the character you play. The game starts out as cinematic with someone talking to you about some things that have happened, and then you wake up on a prison boat. You quickly realize that someone has arranged your premature release from prison on the King’s orders. From there you fill out the paperwork that makes you a free man, and this paperwork also is the tool that you set up your character and stats. Once you make a character with the traits you like, you are literally set loose into the gigantic world of Morrowind with nobody to make you do anything.
One of the best features, and ultimately the one the makes it not for everybody, is the openenedness of the game. There is no direction from anything whatsoever once you leave the office where they set you free. You can even dismiss the main quest if you wish. Once you get off the prison boat, you are free to do anything you want to do. Anything from killing innocent bystanders to going on quests that will take you to Elven villages tucked away near tombs of the ancestors.
Morrowind is one of the games you can sit down and play for a while and when you look back up at the clock it is about 8 hours after you started. The world and characters are so engaging that you can become totally immersed in the world. The only major issue with Morrowind is either one of three things in this otherwise perfect title. The load times can be fairly ridiculous, you can get lost or have no sense of what to do next in a quest, or get bored with the 20 minute walk between towns when a travel agent isn’t available for the area you need to get to next.
Another issue/feature of Morrowind is the millions of quests that every single NPC seems to have. More times than not these quests are rather bland and usually involve running around to find items or are generally too vague for their own good and you end up lost and confused (which is the theme of Morrowind).
If the game didn’t allow you to get quite as lost as you can get, then the level of immersion would be lifted. At the same time I can’t help but wish they had some method of keeping you on track and nudging you in the right direction, because it’s really no fun not being able to find that person in a town you can’t seem to get to because you can’t find it.
Besides all that Morrowind is a truly epic adventure that will slowly make you more and more anti-social the more you play. Once you get the hang of how everything works inside the game there is nothing to stop you from doing anything. You can go on quests, follow the main quest, kill everybody, or hang out in a strip club (medieval style).
Morrowind has to be seen to be believed, and has to be played for you to even get an idea at how huge of a game this really is. Bethesda really outdid itself with Elder Scrolls 3, and I can’t wait to see how the next one turns out.