my favourite soulslike, i dind't finish it 11 times for no reason, the combat in this game is almost perfect, bosses are the best part of the game and those alone are enough to play this game multiple times, really good area desings (for the most part, if you played ds3 you know what i am talking about), weapon variety is good.
idk why ds3 is hated by some, the linearity of this game is actually good when you think about it, because the developers carefully created the most balanced progression out of it, no boss seems out of place because it's "too strong" or "to weak" and where the non interconnected world lacks the area desing fills the gaps really well.
also dodge spamming is only an issue in pvp, but even then if you just spam roll at the end of the day it's true that you took no damage, but you didn't deal it either.
but one thing i agree is that pve speaking magic sucked and should've been a lot better.
the best part of soulslikes shines in ds3, and that is self growth, i started as a complete inexperienced idiot who couldn't even defeat the easiest of challenges, and now i'm able to finish this game under 5 hours.
in my opinion, ds3 is the best soulslike along with bloodborne and sekiro.

i give two stars to dark souls 2, why? this game is:
clunky and slow combat
adaptability exsists and rolling is a glorified lucky wheel spin
weapons break by just thinking of using them
so many pain inducing or straight up disgustingly awful bossses
2 years pass far more quickly than drinking an estus flask
like all the game you want i 100% respect your opinion but my god did i have a bad time with this game