Well I played 1942, Vietnam, 2, Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3.
I liked to play all of them, but my favourite by far is battlefield 2. Battlefield 3 has a little lost it's "battlefield charme" IMO, but still is a very good game. Bad Company 2 is/was also really nice, I played this nearly as long as battlefield 2.
The problem with the newer battlefields is not the game itself IMO, but the community that gets saltier and saltier. But that is a thing I cannot only see in the battlefield series, in nearly every game I play the community grows more strange in the last years. It is like every second guy only wants to put his anger into the game and on other players... and is not playing the game because he likes it, but only to let off some steam.
And about battlefield 1.... yeah most probably it is a little more arcade like because of EA.... they want to sell as many games as possible. And a "realistic" WW 1 shooter would not get enough players and money... so they have to modify the setting a little.