I think it comes down to cognitive effort, and dopamine release. Some people like to spend their time indulging in lore that would fill up several books, others like seeing explosions on their screens every minute or so. More power to both parties, we have choice nowadays anyways.

I used to love theses long rpgs, but nowadays I like grinding some boars and ripping off their snouts for whatever pointless quest in wow. But I did love playing the original fallout 1 and 2, diving deep into its mechanics. Really loved spending an absurd time into the

Its funny, I did buy pillar of eternity a while ago, and got so overwhelmed by the prospect of having a seemingly multi day game that I just turned it off, pretty convinced that it would monopolise my time if I gave it a fair shot, something that would have shocked me as a kid (think of the dollar to time ratio!!!)