UMBAGLO'S PROFILE

"A more nonlinear adventure game might come with a Quest Log with the player's current objective outlined clearly at the top."

Personally, my own opinion is that all RPGs should have a Quest Log, regardless of their linearity, for the reasons you laid out. There's a lot of games that I'd -love- to get around to beating, but because I tend to have to put them aside for a few days/weeks/months to switch to something else, I can no longer remember what I need to do next, and the game has no real way of telling me.