We’ve ascended beyond OT purism now. We’ve gone up to 1977 purism.
But in all seriousness, I think something is lost when you only view Star Wars 77 in isolation. It’s neat to look at how far the characters come from the start of that movie to the end of RotJ, and the two sequels recontextualize the original in a way that adds more depth to the story imo
That’s an entirely valid way to look at it and one I’ll probably circle back to at one point. I completely see how ESB and ROTJ add to the world of SW, but it’s not worth it to me.
Right now, I’m just so burned out on franchise filmmaking that I relish in the idea of standalones. Leaving on a high note > overstaying your welcome. Some people see ROTJ or ROTS as that high note, I see Star Wars as that high note in this moment. One excellent movie and that’s it. ESB isn’t a Highlander II or Jurassic Park II: The Lost World, but it’s decisions led to far worse things to come for the franchise.