Ubisoft actually took the FarCry series in the direction I was hoping Crytek would take Crysis.
This. There's a reason I've played Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, Blood Dragon, and now Primal like it was my job. I get the same 'open world' satisfaction I got from Far Cry and Crysis 1.
When Far Cry 3 was first released, I was listening to an interview with their top devs. They said that they 'dropped the ball' with Far Cry 2 and made a game 'sub par' to what Crytek/Far Cry 1 fans expected and that the reason Far Cry 3 turned out so much better is because they learned their lesson and realized if they don't make something on CryTek's level, the game will be rejected by it's core fan base.
So I think with the FC3 and beyond, they're trying to follow Crytek's original direction with Far Cry 1. Where as Crytek themselves deviated from that with Crysis 2 and beyond.