I know I sound like a broken record but I really do feel like the First Order coup was such an obvious direction to take Kylo’s story. Leave Kylo near-death, and force him to work with the Resistance gang, then set up Hux and the Knights of Ren as the primary antagonists. Hell, they could even be trying to resurrect Palpatine if they reaaaally felt like they needed a big bad evil guy. Imagine Adam/Kylo/Ben sharing scenes with Poe/Oscar, Finn/John, and even Chewie, the droids, and those interactions could alleviate any concerns regarding how Ben will make amends for his crimes. You could’ve had a scene with Poe struggling to pilot the Falcon early in the film similar to what we got, then later show Ben pilot it like we’ve never seen before. Imagine Han’s skill level, but if he was Force-sensitive.
I feel like having a whole movie’s worth of Adam’s Ben Solo was a missed opportunity. Also, letting Ben and Rey have face-to-face scenes together would’ve allowed for the writer’s to build toward that kiss in a more natural way. I can vividly imagine a scene similar to Lando’s Closet in Solo, where Rey walks in as Ben is putting on some of Han’s old clothes.
You could still have a duel or two between Rey and Ben too. Maybe at the midpoint, Rey could’ve found some Sith holocron and it makes Rey want to fight Ben for whatever reason, and Rey begins to turn to the dark side because she thinks it is the only way to stop the war and save her friends. As Ben moves towards the light, Rey moves towards the dark. After the fight, Rey flees to go find Palpatine/the Knights of Ren to participate in the ritual, and like TROS, just before Rey makes the sacrifice, she senses Ben has come back for her.
That whole climax could’ve taken place beneath the Jedi temple rather than Exegol, and then you could have the other battles happen on the surface and in space like in DOTF. Though it seems pretty apparent that they didn’t want to have the climax be on Coruscant for whatever reason, since it apparently changed in the second draft.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent. There’s definitely things I like and don’t like about both. Just wish they had built off of what they had rather than start from almost scratch.