Although I enjoyed R1 far more than TFA, they indeed suffer from the same reliance on the old story as each other (TFA mimicks the plot, R1 the nods and acknowledgements to ANH). The only thing I enjoyed more within R1 was that it seems more permissible to have those links. Indeed it didn’t reinvent the wheel, we were subject to clear fan-service within the cameos and the vader moments - all of which could be cut and not affect the story in any way - but such is the guilty pleasure of STAR WARS - and if it became so distant and alien from the core franchise that we love so much, we probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much at all.