Before you say anything, the answer is yes, I’ve seen all of the original trilogy. My current favorite is the original Star Wars from '77. The thing is, every single site and friend that I’ve seen and talked to about their preference has always been Empire Strikes Back. I agree there are so many memorable moments, even the major reveal near the end, but I feel like I’m missing a feeling or something that everyone else got after watching it. It’s a great movie for sure, but i guess for me it just seemed either too fast paced… or too slow paced… the plot was hard for me to follow. Though I’m honestly not sure if that’s the case. I’ve tried re-watching it multiple times, but it never caught my interest after the first scenes before they evacuate the Hoth system.
I also understand at how hyped up it was in 1980 when they began showing it, so the history even is there in my head, saying with them that " This movie should be FANTASTIC!" and then everyone else says it is and I guess I don’t know what happened?

So given this, thanks for reading that long essay (sorry about that), and maybe there’s something I’m missing?