:-( all the memories I have about RE belongs to all the times that nemesis jumped out of no where,yelling S.T.A.R.S and made me wet my pants.Capcom not only ruined its reputation by producing RE4 and 5 but also made me shoot and kill my old friend,Nemesis lol.
RE's reputation was not ruined by RE4, RE4 was a great game. It had all those things you mentioned as "real" RE. It had horror, survival, a good story(not the most relevant, but good nevertheless, not to mention how there was some really significant stuff going on behind the scenes, with Ada and The Organization).
RE's reputation may have went down hill, after Shinji Mikami left, which was after RE4. In fact, I think it was because he didn't want RE4 to get ported onto the Ps2.
Mikami leaving coincided with really lazy, mediocre things from RE, UC, RE5 had it's bad moments.
Anyway, my point being, don't put RE4 under that bus, it doesn't belong there. I understand that there are new RE fans(post RE4, who typically prefer OTS style gameplay, all that) and there are the older RE fans(the RE purists, who hate anyhthing RE4 and after, naively I might add), and there is the group I consider myself in, a more "real" RE fan. I play the games from all throughout the series, and appreciate them all. Some more than others, and I think the games have gone downhill a bit after RE4, but not because, or starting with RE4.
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