From Software 'n such

[Lemnear]

Spoiler

Dark Souls 2 most definitely feels more "King's Field" to me than any other FromSoft game since Demon's Souls.
In fact, I'm one of many people who bounced off the game when it first came out, but returning to it after having played all of the King's Field and adjacent games, I appreciated it much, much more.
I don't think it was ever intended to be a King's Field game though, and I don't think any ideas that made it into it were leftover King's Field things either. The development process is well documented, and I've heard nothing of the sorts. But the King's Field games are all very much Naotoshi Zin games (the founder you were talking about), so it's probably not unreasonable to assume that his involvement in the game (the only credited one I think in the entire series?) is probably what made it feel more "kf like".

Yeah, that's the impression, but DeS is also very King's Field...that "survival/puzzle" feel.
I think the total, unrestricted freedom in building is a flaw in something "King's Field"-esque (I'm looking at you, Elden Ring).
It lacks that sense of knowing/searching what the right choice is to progress smoothly, which is a very RPG component, unlike all the open worlds these days that simply tell you to run around and kill all the bosses however the fuck you want.
People, however, see this as a kind of flaw: "Oh no, I can't do whatever I want in a super hostile dark fantasy kingdom? Ugh." In short, it adds that sense of survival that's increasingly being lost, and I'm not talking about direct difficulty that requires some particular skill, but rather adopting a specific approach to various situations and never wasting available resources.

The thing about DeS is that it doesn't really force you play one particular way though. There are *many* right answers to the question of how to progress. Yes, there are some levels where it's more profitable to grind or farm for resources than other levels. Depending what you are looking for. But there are at least 4-5 different weapons you can pick up for free across the game which start at a base level of at least +1. The Crescent Falchion+1 gets all the attention of course, because of the OP recharging effect and being several tiers higher than a default +1, and dealing magic damage too, but that doesn't make it the only viable option. The fire longsword and holy mace are as good in their own ways for specific builds, and depending on your build, it might even be that a humble halberd could be the most optimal weapon for you. And so the "right" way to play the game is very different depending on your build.

I'm not a huge fan of elden ring but I don't see how ER is really any different. DeS is one of the easiest of the souls games, and so if anything the freedom to build your character as you like is even more pronounced. Because a suboptimal decision won't be punished. If you can move your character around, roll a little bit, block with a shield etc, then it really doesn't matter what your build is in DeS. You can make it work. Sure, skeletons take more damage from maces and holy or magic weapons and they take less from blades but all of the builds are going to have answers to problems like this.

Also the "never wasting valuable resources" line is a bit silly, because grass stacks to 99 in DeS and there are like six different kinds of healing grasses. A very common sight in PvP/getting invaded by some dick was stabbing a guy over and over while he stuffed more spinach into his face than Popeye the Sailor Man and refused to go down. If you mash the square button then even bosses can't usually kill you, because the time-to-eat is so fast and the stacks are massive. It's the exact design flaw that Estus was created to fix. I do kinda prefer the jank infinite healing of DeS (and DS2) because of some weird ways it changes the balance, but I couldn't argue against someone who wanted to say that DS1 and ER have a better healing system than DeS and DS2. Also, the blood vials of bloodborne are kinda annoying too, since you periodically have to farm them. It's trivially easy but still unnecessary for a resource that could have been like estus flasks and probably should have been. Having a finite amount of these is pointless because there's no scarcity of them. If you don't have 100 or so next time you arrive at a boss zone, you're going to go farm estus until you have enough and then come back. I don't think anybody except the challenge run youtubers are taking on bosses like Logarius with 7 blood vials, because "that's how many I have and I refuse to grind for more."

TL;DR Demon's Souls is an easy game and so I don't understand what you mean about it pushing a right way to play. Yes, I know everyone always says "souls games are easy" but DeS gives you multiple 99 stackable healing grasses that cast nearly instantly and it's widely acknowledged one of the easier Souls games to exist. Especially if you're just trying to clear and not stressing over getting perfect world tendency or seeing all the quest resolutions/meeting all npcs you can in a single run.

Well, yes, it's the easiest, but just like the Souls trilogy and Bloodborne, the gameplay changes completely based on the character you play. While in Elden Ring, I feel like the only thing that matters is maximizing damage, and this undermines some choices. You can do whatever builds you want, but some are obviously less functional... it's not a question of "solving" a dungeon, because it all comes down to beating up the enemies harder and that's it.
Not to mention that enemies scale beyond your level... I've got about 200 hours in and I'm almost at LV200, and the enemies still deal incredible blows. This really breaks down my progression, and it constantly feels like you're always at LV1. Not to mention that the enemies have Bloodborne-like movesets, but you move like in any Souls game.
I don't know, for me it's the worst they've ever made and all the praise it received will only damage the "soul of Souls",