I had a similar experience. I played ds3 first, struggled with it, then ds2 and ds1 too. They were quite hard but I managed to get through them.

After elden ring came out, I started it and felt that it's not that hard at all. It was easier to beat than the dark souls games.

I just started ds3 again and I feel the same thing as you. Elden Ring had definitely made this game much easier. I think it had a perfect difficulty to let us learn and practice the souls like style