RE 4 took everything away from the series I liked. I liked RE for being a classic point and click adventure with some action elements. That what made Resident Evil. Resident Evil. There is a reason why the old fanbase is still kicking and the old games are still revered. I am not the only one feeling that way.
Of course the new approach attracted the main stream and the main stream is there were the money is. I believe you that the mainstream loved Resident Evil 4. But the people that said RE 4 is one of the greatest games of all time were not Resident Evil fans before that.
We should leave it at that point. There are 2 different group of fans and that is fine.
I never saw a second of footage of 4, when I had played ALL of the previous titles in the series and I thought it was a superb game; maybe not, "one of the best ever," but definitely a top 3 game in the series.
It is clear you are taking this personal and have a lot of personal feelings towards the gameplay being changed; that's perfectly fine, but evolution is constantly going on and if you remove your personal bias about how the series was changed (not to your liking), surely you can see that RE4 is a superb game.
If you don't feel that way, then you are not removing the inherent bias, period.
I'm not saying you have to like it, but the game is a great game and because we think it's a great game, absolutely doesn't mean that we, "aren't true RE fans." Come on.
And whoa; RE is absolutely NOT a PAC game, not in the slightest; it's through and through, an Action or Action/Adventure title.
Again, not telling you how to feel, but if you are calling RE a PAC series, then I don't think you're even seeing the classic titles in the series, in the same eyes as we are.
BTW, this is getting super off-topic lol