Removing Snoke is also to make Kylo the main baddie, to not hype up “The new emperor” before his death in TLJ - and therefore not disappointing the audience upon Snoke’s death in TLJ as much as it did. His TLJ death will now not be as devestating to the overall plot (because he was now not foreshadowed to be the main baddie).
I don’t think that it was his presence that hyped Snoke up. I mean, why didn’t Yoda sence this extra dark side presence at any point? What was he doing during episodes 1-6? He is stronger than Palatine (apparently)? All of these questions (and I’m sure more) are what hyped him up, not how much he was in TFA.
If Snoke was just some rich evil guy from the outer rim that saw his chance at building up his own empire by offering his wealth (cut out his force abilities), it would have all worked.
This would have told us where all their funding is coming from, Kylo and Hux would still have seen him as their boss and his death in TLJ wouldn’t of been an issue. Kylo would of had all the funding they needed by that point and his continued presence wouldn’t have added to the story any further. His lack of force abilities wouldn’t have set the audience up to think he was “the final boss” either.
I agree on all these things, yes, except the fact that his presence does not hype him up. There i completely disagree.
Having him as a commanding presence in hologram form - three times, during TFA, sets him up as the main antagonist by far. He is commanding both Kylo Ren and General Hux. He is known in the ways of the force (this already sets him up to be a Sith of some sort). And even worse, we have not yet seen him in his physical form. The audience almost DEMAND to see him in the next film, this time in the flesh. In other words, The Force Awakens sets him up for BIG REVEALS and an even more commanding presence. Also, the parallels to The Emperor is uncanny.