Somewhat relavent to this discussion:

“For us it was very purposefully going backwards to go forwards — a purposeful step backwards to tell a new story with new characters,” -Abrams
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-32-minute-talk-with-jj-abrams-and-lawrence-kasdan-about-star-wars-the-force-awakens-and-more-20151222

A rather simple conclusion, but it makes sense the more I thought about it. Nothing ground breaking, but to me, it’s a smart move because he’s basically saying, if we the audience want to be engaged with these new characters, the setting should feel familiar. Yes, Rey DOES parallel Luke in significant ways (and some not), but that was the point. If we want to propel a new story, it needs to first establish our new cast in a way that is recognizable. It establishes what these characters want more clearly and therefore are able to sympathize with them more easily. Now, it’s not to say these characters need to mirror EXACTLY to their shadow characters, but enough to get the ball rolling. THEN can you do more wild and inventive story telling. It all hinges on what Episode VIII will do, but the optimistic side of me says, well, they already did A LOT of callbacks to not only ANH, but parts of Empire and Jedi. Surely they’re not dumb enough to repeat this in the next film? Some of you are rolling your eyes at me, and I don’t blame you.

Overall, I just feel it was a smart move. Was it a flawless move? NO! However, it was decent enough for me.