You know, the lack of explanation on stuff like the republic, first order, and snoke may be intentional. The original movie had this 'thrown into the action' quality to it, where you didn't really know what they were talking about and then they filled in the blanks later on. I bet we'll learn more about all the new elements introduced in later movies, especially luke's jedi order and how Maz got that light saber. Only thing is that i wish there was a sense of power in the galaxy, like im not sure if the resistance or the first order is more powerful. It seems like from what i've heard the republic controls most of the galaxy but the first order is just starting to pop up and the resistance was made to keep them from growing.
Also, i really liked the 'show, don't tell' acting that was going on. Especially when rey and leia met after Han died and they didn't have to say anything since they're both force users. Also the end with Rey and Luke was great, Luke didn't even need to speak and you could just feel all the suffering he went through that made him go into hiding.