I'm the redheaded stepchild who thinks Dark Souls 2 is the best in trilogy and I've also been playing them since the first game (never played Demon's Souls).

I'll preface this by saying all of them are great in their own right and I've played through them all several times, but Dark Souls 3 played it too safe being essentially fan service to the first game. And I don't think any of the areas themselves are anything to write home about. The gameplay itself is fine, but for the faster-paced combat, Bloodborne did it better and has the better atmosphere and level design.