I feel exactly the same. I had never played a game before that felt so free. I spent so much time just discovering the world, what you could do. The magic system that invited you to break the game mechanics - at a cost. I love how playful it was, with items like the boots of blinding speed.

I don't know if any game can quite capture what I loved about Morrowind, but you might also like Outward, or Kenshi, if you'd like a similar feeling of discovering and surviving in a strange world that wasn't designed around you.

Would highly recommend Kenshi, it is very different from Morrowind, very weird, and very janky, but completely unique in its setting and gameplay. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, which is in development.

You capture what I failed to articulate. I feel exactly that way about Oblivion and Skyrim

Games just felt so much more intelligent back then. Morrowind really went off the deep end.