I have... thoughts on this. Maybe it's because I played 4 before 1, and I know it's not the most popular opinion, but I liked pretty much everything about VC4 more than VC1. Even the plot and characters. Yes, VC1 is tighter, more grounded, and a more personal story for those characters, and the writing in VC4 is more variable and doesn't always work as well, but it resonated with me a lot more. Sure there's stuff like Raz, where they clearly tried WAY too hard to make him unlikeable near the beginning so that they could give him a growth arc later in the game and they went overboard, and there's more anime tropes and such. But they really went for it with VC4, especially as the game goes on (I think the second half is far better than the first half) and even if not everything works they really swung for the fences in scope, stakes, and so many other things, and that hit with me. Could just be that it fits my tastes more, as I tend to like stories that are bigger, have higher stakes, tons of insane reveals and twists, etc., more than smaller and more personal stories that have less going on. I found VC1 to be good, but also kind of... boring, honestly, for that reason. Although I imagine a LARGE part of that is due to how much better the combat in 4 is; going back to 1's combat after all the cool things they added in 4 is tough.