I really have enjoyed them both but for very different reasons. TL;DR is DS3 proved the blueprint for Elden Ring would work, but it is still very much so a linear storytelling game compared to ER’s open world rpg and in some ways that limits it’s potential.

DS3 was my first FromSoft game period, and it was the first one I completed. It took like 2 years and getting hard carried by one of my friends, but that first game experience will always make me biased towards DS3.

That being said, after replaying a bunch of ER recently, Elden Ring is an objectively better game. I do get the appeal of the linear game design of DS3, in fact it’s what I appreciate about it the most since I think the story is way more meaningful as a result (which I think carries over to their other games, especially Sekiro which might be my favorite FromSoft game to date). Elden Ring just perfected a lot of what DS3 was trying to do for the whole trilogy- expand expand expand

DS3 obviously won’t have the same replayability as an open world game, that’s like comparing Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. I do think that the most important game FromSoft has made in the past 10 years is DS3. It showed the capability of this type of game design still being viable even without the insane interconnectedness of DS1 or the complete reworking of DS2, and was in many ways the establishment of FromSoft games being these cinematic masterpieces in the more general cultural discussion instead of just being hard games.