That the film had interesting, well rounded characters that the audience can care about was one old idea I didn’t mind seeing rehashing 😄
It wouldn’t have been too hard to have mixed up things a bit more so Rey wasn’t living on Jakkuoine (the concepts of canals of water between the crashed wrecks suggestive of a paradise ruined by a war the locals had nothing to do with adds complexity to the story and the shared universe of these films a missed opportunity).
Having the superweapon either not destroyed or moving the aim of the attack against it to defend the doomed Republic capital would have made what the film does with the story ingredient very different from the other two times one was used. Similarly having the Republic have a Death Star which they are deliberating about using would have been a refreshing change by reversal.
The skies in these films are just not weird enough. One thing I like about The Navigator (1988) is how medieval eyes see modern landscapes as utterly alien. The OT had multiple suns, multiple moons, floating cities, gas giants, metal worlds. Things that make that most ubiquitous of landscape details, the sky, look unique and interesting. In terms of location Coruscant in the PT was an interesting backdrop, sadly to a very dull story. We don’t get much of that in this film.
The characters, good as they are do things we have already seen other characters do, often much better. I think they played too safe with the plot but did well with the characters.