I cannot say much about DS3 because I don't own the game. Honestly I don't own DS2 either, all I can talk about is DS1 and what've seen of footage about the other games.
As far as I know, Dark Souls is somewhat known for it's clunky control mechanics. This adds to the difficulty of the game, you have to calculate your movements into the battle. I don't like this either but since pepople proved that they can live with it AND beat the game I guess it's legitmate. This does not mean of course that everyone has to accept it, there are plenty of other games out there.
I guess this is also why people are drawn towards Bloodborne, because the slow and clunky controls were almost completly removed for a faster paced game.