Yea ok thanks.
But saying that there's nothing that connects these games is kinda wrong, it still uses same characters and assumes that all characters still have gone threw what happen earlier.
Umbrella etc and everything still exists, so even if RE4 was a total invention and another direction, it still doesn't change the RE universe.
I think it just was a ridiculous move by Capcom to try and reinvent the series with this Cult thing, however there is something about this tombstone or it wouldn't have been shown.. And apparently as I've understood it, RE5 will reveal were these parasite things came from and also involve flashbacks to tie up what's been happening in between the Re games especially for Chris.
My bet is that Umbrella is still behind this parasite thing as well, would be more or less one of the most obvious ways to go for Capcom to make any sense out of the Cults.
No one wanna see Jill dead, especially since she's probably the most famous of all RE characters but still, it wouldn't surprise me if Capcom killed her of.
The game got a huge amount of main characters that always seems to survive one way or another. Maybe times have changed...
As for my personal thoughts on RE4 it was a good game but it felt very misplaced in the RE universe.