Something different is not the solution.. not for the sake for being different. If you have two figure skaters, one whose routine is pretty standard and uninspired, and the second one has something interesting planned. The first girl only falls once and otherwise runs a good program and the second girl with the different program stumbles and falls on almost every move she tries to execute and is crying when she leaves the ice.
The first skater is TFA. the second is TLJ.
SW is built around the first skater.. it's a simple story with archetype characters.. they can be developed and made more complex but there is a cap on that, and such development should be peppered in not dumped
None of the things you've said in this post are true. The Last Jedi is far more rooted in the things that make the Star Wars franchise unique than TFA is because Rian Johnson understands the underlying subtleties and narrative themes of the franchise to a much greater degree than both JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan do.