I still plan on checking out DSII and III eventually. Honestly, DSIII looks the most promising between the two, but that's largely because DSII looks to be a game that sacrificed quality for quantity. I'm still willing to check it out and be surprised. It wouldn't be the first time the black sheep entry was my favorite title in a series after all.

While I can agree that Miyazaki probably intended for Dark Souls to be a standalone title, I'm not really bothered by its continuation either. As I said, checking some lore info on DSIII makes it feel like Miyazaki still pulls through with some interesting ideas that tie it back to the original lore. I've heard less about DSII but I attribute that to its mixed reception. I hear the PVP is considered the best in the series though.

I'm actually for Bloodborne to get a sequel, hell I wouldn't mind for Demon's Souls to get one either, but I feel it would be best to take the initial themes and concepts and create a new story and setting from scratch than try to figure out how to make a sequel from the original, and perhaps Dark Souls should have done the same. DSII was out of Miyazaki's hands though and it was nice that he came back to finish the series with DSIII. It may be the most fanservicy entry, but most finales tend to be.

Still, the core games are fun and the series is unique enough where there are not as many titles that are like it, maybe four or five games off the top of my head that try to mimic it, but that's still a pretty small pool of titles.