Dynamic changes to the world based on the actions of my character visible on a small or large scale.
Consider my running the street and having an encounter with an NPC called Daria. I hold her up and she comes late to an important meeting. Her boss loosing a multi-million contract suspects that she sabotaged the deal. That being the case he sends out a raid squad to get back at her neighborhood which is situated in the poor quarters.
Since I don't know who she is I may learn about the raid only by jacking into a terminal reading the news
Visiting the quarters in time to become witness of the raid eventually
Visiting the quarters later on only to find many dead and wounded
Each outcome would offer unique opportunities to further branch into additional quests and quest lines shaping the world one way or another. Reading the news could lead me getting there as it's an ongoing action. Depending on my goals I could intervene and maybe gain something from it or further complicate the matter. Visiting the place in time I could get into the middle of a fight and would be forced to intervene even that wasn't what I had in mind at the time. Going there when it is over I would eventually learn what occurred and why. Maybe this would lead me to pay Daria's boss a visit or do something else.
This all beside whatever main or side-quests the game has to offer which usually ends up in checking off a list of tasks and trying to discover what else I have to do and what hasn't been done that needs to in order to progress and eventually see the end at some point in time.
So, basically what I expect isn't that the main story line changes based on my character, the tools and decisions, skills and what have you, but to have a real and visible impact outside of quests. This is what I would understand the game to be more dynamic as compared to TW3 for instance. Else, if it's just the story that's changing so not much different to TW3 or any other Open-World RP stuffed to the brim with side quests, hand-crafted or no. This is what I miss in most these open world games, where I could go literally anywhere, kill whoever I wish, but in the end it doesn't yield an interesting result. Except killing some quest related NPC which usually leads to auto failing a quest or quest line.
I don't expect it ending up being more than TW3. Of course CDPR will improve in some ways over it, more important would be to push the envelope just a little further. Not only make it an open world with dynamic main and side-quests, but make the world more dynamic without that having consequence on the story. High expectation which isn't likely to be in the game so I will contend with a very good game at least that's not just ticking off quests - dynamic or no - from a generic list.
Post edited August 17, 2020 by Mori_Yuki