Limiting to 3 items per fight is... bad.
Early game, it feels bad because it's a limit on growth, and leaving valuable items untaken because you can only have three at a time just seems stupid (From an organizational point of view)
Late game, it feels bad, because it generally stops affect you. The number of times, after the first boss, that i've taken more than 2 items from a fight, I can count on one hand.
Still a work-in-progress! The main thing is that we're still looking to double the number of items in the game so we need to give the player more options after each fight or they won't have very good odds of finding things that work together.
Maybe you could choose more in the beginning and it tapers off?
More at the beginning would be a great compromise. That way you could start your build and being more selective about items would make more sense.
That follows the previous natural progression of unlimited items. By floor 5 or so I've usually committed myself on a build and most items I don't pick up...just healing or synergy items for my build.