I wouldn’t have minded Palpatine with a lightsaber if Lucas had went in the same direction Dark Empire had. Palpatine wields a lightsaber, but it’s a lightsaber taken from a vanquished Jedi, not one of his own creation. And he doesn’t wield it because he relies on it, but to profane it. That would’ve been in keeping with Palpatine’s character.
I mean, how much more effective would it have been if Palpatine had whipped out Windu’s lightsaber when confronting Yoda, only to contemptuously toss it aside later in the fight.