RE4 changed my mind on the RE series. After I had completed 4 dozens of times, I felt that it was time for a retrospective, played all the older games in chronological order and had a real blast with them. I still could kick myself for ignoring them for so long. However, part 5 made my interest wane a little again, IMO there's zero RE atmosphere in it. And fuck that co-op/online/whatever crap, this is RE, not a friggin' FPS.
I think the GameCube is probably, very well, mostly responsible for generating a new wave of RE fans, thanks solely to REmake and RE4. As mentioned in my opening post, that's pretty much how it all panned out for me vs having no interest in the PS1 versions when they were current.
And, totally agree re: RE5. I was REALLY anticipating its release vs RE4, which at the point of RE5's release, was - for me - still the best game I had ever played. So, anticipation was set to 11.
Needless to say, it didn't, on any level, meet my levels of anticipation and, if I'm honest, I even struggled to complete it!
5 years later, I should maybe re approach it and see if I feel differently playing it now.
FYI... I didn't even bother with RE6. Still plan to do Revelations in future though, although the demo left me somewhat indifferent...