Regarding the whole thing about how the series never really goes anywhere, I don't think the solution is to give the series a break, because that would just make the problems lie dormant rather than solve them. What they should do instead is make a really good game that blows us out of the water with its gameplay AND story. Make us truly care about the characters. Give them strengths and weaknesses. Allow them to shine brightest when they are at their weakest. Give us a reason to say to ourselves "don't you dare even think about killing that person off" because you've made us care so much about them, rather than having people begging to kill off a certain character because they are too old and have had enough time in the spotlight (you know who you are). Do what no RE has ever done and unify the fan base with the idea that this character is worth preserving, because we actually want to watch this person grow and learn and make mistakes.
^that speech kind of made it sound like I wanted a new character, but you could do that with the old ones too