As best as I can surmise from watching available streams is that the main payoff
is the revenge you'll wreak upon the murderers of your Mother and Father.
By, 'kept at such a low level in the narrative', do you mean, for example, he will never progress to being a knight or nobleman?
I've tried a couple streams...
but they didn't make the cut and I settled on the less annoying and more pleasant... Lady Lilia
I've enjoyed watching 5 hours of her gameplay but think I should stop now and wait until I'm ready to play myself.
Also, today I ran across this medieval enthusiast and his YouTube channel Shadiversity
He has two videos on the game at present...
Kingdom Come, Deliverance: Historical analysis, First Impressions
and
Kingdom Come, Deliverance, a medieval enthusiast investigates!
From what I can tell, it’s TOO life-like for me. You have to eat, sleep, bathe and pretty much everything else. I like careful planning and I like stealth, but this game is too much like work, I’m thinking.
I didn’t play Scarface so Tony Montana could sell drugs on the street the rest of his life. LOL