I think a lot of people really don't play it like at the very start. But if you want to experience it then why not? There's also a video in YouTube- i think? That tells/explains the whole story so you don't have to play the very first one.
It's a very good game especially the first ones(for me anyway).
I think there might be a benefit to playing the older ones. I started with 4 and a character appeared who Leon seemed interested in over the blondie and I had no idea who she was or why they had that weird tension around them. Had I played the previous ones I'd probably know. So yea if you care about story play or at least find story videos for the previous games.
Is resident evil a good game? Is it okay not to play it from the very first game? Because if there is some strories that i must understand from the previous ones, maybe i won't play it. i need to know the whole story.