My first experience with the Resident Evil series was with Code: Veronica X.  I was severely disappointed overall with it, and from what I've read, the whole series is the same, so I had little to no faith in it.  I didn't feel the need whatsoever to play the other games, and openly spoke out against the series, even though I only played one game.  But, after playing Resident Evil 4, I got intrigued by the story, so I decided to try out Resident Evil 1-3.  I thought, "There's no way they can be worse than Code: Veronica, so why not?"  And good god... was I right.