While DS2 has too many mediocre bosses (both mediocre from a gameplay perspective and from an atmosphere perspective, where it's "ah, another X again") I much prefer the combat over ds3 actually as it doubled down on what souls games are really good at, action commitment. Everything costs a ton of stamina, stamina regens slowly, drinking estus is slower than DS1, on a mechanical level I see DS2 as the perfected interpretation of souls games, it just needed more time in the kitchen to get a few more cooler bosses (still, there's some lovable ones in there, like Darklurker). In DS3 you never give a shit about your stamina while spamming rolls after rolls. It's an unsound game.
Thank you everyone for the replies. My problem with post-Sen's is that levels look wide open and boring, for the most part, and enemy placement is like MMORPG. I'm now in Crystal Cavern, and it's like the opposite of what was before: long, easy corridor to boss that kills you in 1-2 hits.
Wide open and boring is pretty much DS3's level design motto. I caught cancer doing the Road of Sacrifice-Cathedral-Farron loop. Unlike DS1, DS3 pulls this shitty design from the start.
Indeed; Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2 all have a heavy emphasis on tactical stamina management and careful movement in treacherous and cramped combat arenas. From Bloodborne onwards (with Dark Souls 3 being the worst offender, though even Elden Ring is in this mold) FromSoft seemingly gave up on these elements, preferring instead flashier combat focused primarily on dodge roll timing with minimal importance to stamina or tactical positioning. As far as boss design I think this is
fine, as Dark Souls 3's bosses are mostly very well-crafted, challenging, and varied. However, even in the boss arenas you can see the problem infecting the general level design, being that nearly every combat locale is a flat arena or wide corridor. With some rare exceptions that make up the best parts of the game (e.g. Irithyll Dungeon, Grand Archives, Archdragon Peak), you have ample space to fight enemies who attack straight on, which becomes rote as Dark Souls was interesting as a matter of complex level and encounter design rather than its raw mechanical depth, which was always more simplistic than in action brawlers like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden.
Compared with the environmental awareness required by e.g. the thin walkways of Sen's Fortress, the vertical boardwalk structures of Blighttown, the dizzying labyrinth of traps in the Catacombs, the claustrophobic pincer ambushes in New Londo Ruins in Dark Souls, or the spellcaster/bruiser/anklebiter arrangement in the watery trenches of Shrine of Amana, the conga line of knights backed up by distant archers on the bridges of Iron Keep, the quicksand pits of Brightstone Cove Tseldora in Dark Souls 2, most of the level design in Dark Souls 3 seems wholly uninterested in creating challenging combat scenarios due to the intersection of local geometry and enemy placement. Central Irithyll, Anor Londo rehash, Lothric Castle, Catacombs of Carthus (even fan-favorite Cathedral of the Deep, despite its concealments) are scarcely more than corridors with enemies.
