My example of stuff like this is Majoras Mask.
Really a super simple story, really small location with Clock Town and yet it's one of the game stories and settings I think of most. When you put work into little mundane details it really pays off.
For a while the hot stuff has been to make these huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge worlds, that are just so empty and boring and full of nothing.
Give me a game with a super narrow focus but where you've thought about each character, npc, what they do, what their lives are, what it means to them and bam suddenly you have a gripping story coming together.
Its part of the reason I love Dragon Quest vignettes so much.