There is advancement, but somehow people expect a complete redesign of the entire game? I personally liked DS2 more then DS1, but that had a hell lot more to do with far better PC controls a better PC version.
I'm glad Myazaki is at the helm again, should make for a great game. Tell you what though, I'll be happy to talk about lack of innovation when any other RPG has a tenth of Dark Souls customization, gameplay variety, level variety, enemy/boss variety and awesome combat mechanics. Until that happens then it seems moot.
Souls Series are some of my favourite games of all time, but he definetely has a point. We have 4!!! games in 3!!! different franchises/IPs(Demon Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodborne), where the games are basically identical with not much more than Assasin's Creed variations. We have
1) Same leveling and almost the same stats
2) Almost identical combat and movesets with small variations(Bloodborne is faster, different way to handle backstabs etc.Minor things)
3) Identical checkpoint and respawn system
4) Identical way of story-telling(really cryptic, and some what avant gardish, relying mostly on item descriptions)
5) In all of them there is something similar to hollow/human
6) The actual STORY is almost the same, that revolves around some curse. I mean REALLY???? Did it HAD to be a plague on bloodborne as well?
7) The stupid absence of level cap in all of them, making match making a nightmare.
8) Almost identical atmosphere
These among others. Zero Punctuation puts it very nicely in his review of Bloodborne, calling it "The From Software game". Anyway, if anything, the gameplay will deliver, no doubt about it.