Sorry for confusing your brain, then.
I prefer RO over TFA any day. That is not to say TFA is a bad movie (I do enjoy it, too), but it certainly lacks the originality I was expecting in a new installment of the "Episodes". It's kinda funny to compare what little and circumscribed story RO was based on and how it turned out and how much more narrative freedom Episode VII had and what they actually came up with. Despite the tight storyline corset RO felt fresher and more inspired than TFA, at least to me.
I felt like Rogue One was missing the most important thing to drive "A Star Wars Story": Characters.
The main reason why The Force Awakens works so well is because the film is driven by the characters and the interactions that said characters have- it also helps to have new cast additions that are charismatic as hell.
Rogue One felt like a drag, not because the tone was dark- but because every character felt empty, underdeveloped, and pointless. That, and the film is straight-up boring for the first hour and 20 minutes- without characters to drive the plot forward, the film just feels like it's slogging through each location because it has to in order to progress the plot. By the time the film gets to the last act, the excitement of the battle of Scaraf comes not from the climactic end of all the strife and turmoil of the crew- but it feels like a flashy child waving their arms around screaming "HEY LOOK! IT'S DARTH VADER! DO YOU REMEMBER DARTH VADER?", "HEY LOOK! RD-D2 AND C3PO! DO YOU REMEMBER THEM?!?!?", "LOOK X-WINGS! YOU KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE, RIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT??!?". I mean- the film seems to have taken the largest cue from Jurassic Park being to remind the audience of things that they like from better movies, as opposed to giving the audience something new to care about- i.e. characters such as Rey, Kylo Ren, and Finn.
So even if Rogue One had a more original story than The Force Awakens, Rogue One fails in directing, acting, editing, and in a lot of places- the writing.
I mean, I don't think Rogue One is horrible, but it's just the most mediocre film conceivably possible. Which is why I'd rate it at a 5.5/10.
