>>724998125
We got it because the game was in development hell and they couldn't come up with an enjoyable gameplay loop. Mikami (post Kamiya spazzing out into DMC like a singularity) kept trashing the builds because they just weren't fun. Finally he came up with the shoot/melee loop and went from there. The story was then tacked on after. RE1 due to limitations having originally started as a FPS set in a haunted house.

>>724999436
I wasn't actually speaking on the popularity though. I remember playing RE2 on my dreamcast and being bored + confused as to why people were talking about these games. Even as a big George Romero fan at the time, they underwhelmed me. Would much rather have been playing House of the dead or a Doom Wad, and was overall just disappointed with the series until RE4. Wasnt just the camera either as RE2make was on the boring side as well.