I was just playing Mount and Blade: Warband for the 10000000000th time and I still find what these guys managed to accomplish with this game amazing. Nations declare war, make peace, and trade with each other. Lords engage in politics, make friends with each other, marry themselves to Noble daughters, hold feast, fight in tournaments, gain renown, etc. The world in Mount and Blade is actually dynamically changing and evolving on its own and if you sat there and did absolutely nothing the world would go on as if you didn't exist.
Most open world sandbox games don't actually change regardless of what you do, they are essentially static and just invite you to wreck a little havoc, but at the end of the day nothing really changes. Wrecking havoc in M&B can literally cause wars between nations, Disrupt trade routes, hurt a city's economy, and redraw territories in the world but wrecking havoc in GTA or Oblivion literally changes absolutely nothing in the game.
How come few other games do this? The only other game I can think of that even comes close is the Sims 3 with its living neighborhoods. But it seems like no one else tries it.
Most open world sandbox games don't actually change regardless of what you do, they are essentially static and just invite you to wreck a little havoc, but at the end of the day nothing really changes. Wrecking havoc in M&B can literally cause wars between nations, Disrupt trade routes, hurt a city's economy, and redraw territories in the world but wrecking havoc in GTA or Oblivion literally changes absolutely nothing in the game.
How come few other games do this? The only other game I can think of that even comes close is the Sims 3 with its living neighborhoods. But it seems like no one else tries it.
You didn't like Shenmue. I loved that game soo much. But I can see where people didn't like it, it was very slow.