[Leynos]

The living world aspects of Ultimas VI and VII were what made them such a great draw for me as a child. Long before I was old enough to understand the "real" gameplay of these titles, I could appreciate the rich nature of their environments, and spent countless hours in them. They represented the gold standard that I held every CRPG to since.

When everyone was praising the depth of Morrowind, for example, I found its environment sterile and lacking in the kind of interactivity I had enjoyed in these games of my youth. Skyrim was the first modern CRPG to really surpass them.

(I do realize that the itch I'm describing is probably better satisfied with something like Minecraft, but I'm getting stubborn in my old age).

[Razengan]

I recommend checking out Rune Factory 4 on the Nintendo 3DS. It has some pleasantly surprising dynamic world (well, a single town at least) for a console – let alone handheld – title.