There was always a mystery to be solved (by travelling through village and wilderness, and beating up things along the way), and whether it was discovering why beings of supreme power were hunting you down and killing those dear to you ( Baldur's Gate), or uncovering a vast, intergalactic conspiracy (Knights of the Old Republic), the better older RPGs had a habit of dragging you by the nose for a couple of dozen hours before you started to get answers.
What we tend to think of as cliche now was, back in the day, an excuse for high adventure. There is a distinct quality about the classic approach to RPG narratives.
