If anything, LoS had better and more varied level design than both LoI and CoD which made me not miss the platforming that much. The combat, however, was (IMO) superior in LoI because it felt closer to Castlevania. Still, the combos got in the way there as well. I can't play any of those three games without getting bored to death after a while, unfortunately. Tank enemies, combos, arena shaped rooms.... It's very far from what I want from a Castlevania game (or any game for that matter)
In this regard I'd say neither IGA nor Cox delivered.
Castlevania needs a great team with fresh ideas while still having knowledge and respect for the franchise roots. Or branches, I should say. The classicvania and the metroidvania. 3Dvania is still a broken branch that needs to grow from scratch, IMO. And if the next team necessarily have to draw inspiration from ANYTHING they should look at, not only Dark Souls, but also from 2D Castlevania. Surely there must be dozens of ways to turn that into 3D without going God of War och Devil May Cry on us again. If they understand what made 2D Castlevania great they should be able to - as professional game developers - translate it into one kickass 3D Castlevania. Or maybe not work with games at all.