Hmm, creepy mansions, the foreign looking guy being the betrayer, shit hitting the fan on the first day of work, falling for a girl that's shady as hell, scientist becoming a slave to his own work, Russians being dicks, guy and girl falling for each other in hell, one of said two ending up dying confessing said love, hell most of Leon's dialogue in RE4. When it comes to cliches in regard to story, RE's been doing it for a while.
It's not being on its dickwagon, if anything, it's the opposite, it's knowing the story has been shit since day 1, and that tbqh, REs 1-3 weren't that good at all, CV was decent. RE4 was great, and of course, we all know the mediocreness of RE5. RE as a series has aged HORRIBLY. Arguably, RE4 is the only RE game in the ENTIRE SERIES worth going back to on the strength of its single player (for all of RE5's wannabe Gears fest, at least Mercs was fun, so that lives for MP).
If the story is ass, the gameplay better be worth it, and until RE4 (MAYBE CV), RE's gameplay was never worth it (at least for today's standards). I can get creepy atmospheres and crap from horror movies or some shit (horror...not slasher), and at least with those I don't have to deal with shitty ass camera angles and tank controls that try to force a feeling of dread on you but ultimately lives a bitter taste of frustration when it takes 20 seconds just to actually aim your damn gun.
If we're going by today's standards, which at this point you should because I don't really give a shit about how revolutionary games were when I was 8, RE as a whole is an AWFUL franchise with one, maybe two bright spots in a series worth of shit.
