Oh, it would. The comment mostly came out of me not wanting Embers to end (I love the world) and wondering how it would be possible to come up with a “phase two” when the first campaign ends with the players saving* the world. If I’m perfectly honest, that is.
But a lot of what you’re describing is stuff I was quite used to at home that just happens to not exist at all here. The sort of plotting that happens in, again, Embers is probably what everyone aspires to in the ideal case - but there’s quite a lot of more low-key stuff going on in the meantime. All of which can be very enjoyable precisely because there isn’t all that much at stake. All you do sometimes is inhabit a world over several games, explore some aspects of it and have fun with some others. I mean, I’ve been to events that saved a city from the roiling hordes of chaos and to some that were written around a wine festival or a similar social occasion, and enjoyed them both equally!
You’re right about the ending, of course - that can go wrong and turn into something a bit underwhelming if you’re not planning it from the beginning. I’ve definitely been to games where that was the case. But there’s more to a game than the ending, it’s the overall experience I got for.
And on the other hand it can go places you never expected and amaze everyone as well - and I’ve been to some of those too. They’re the memorable ones that you remember years later precisely because nobody - GMs included - saw it coming until it happened. But as a GM/writer you do give up a fair amount of control and have to be willing to live with a so-so plot in hope of a great one.
*That’s one of the possibilites, anyway. But fingers crossed!