There have been Star Wars stories that have had tight continuity between them, and they don’t feel any less like Star Wars as a result. The Kotor games still feel Star Warsy and have all the Star Wars qualities while still having tight writing and telling a competent story.
If the 1977 movie had been poorly written, none of us would even be on this site or so invested in this fictional universe. The fact that Star Wars has had so much sloppy writing since then isn’t something endearing or worth celebrating, because we know Star Wars can be better than that. All that sloppy writing and confusing continuity will do is drive away potential fans from checking Star Wars out.
To me, Rogue One was a VERY polished movie. I really enjoyed it. That being said, in my humble opinion, it did feel a little less star warsy. Primarily because it did not have the cheesy writing, humor, or as many continuity errors as the OT movies did. They really nailed the look down though. I walked out of the theater knowing it would be an immediate Blu Ray purchase once available.
To me, Rogue One felt less Star Warsy because it reveled in violence and moral ambiguity a little bit more than the Lucas films did. I wouldn’t say it was devoid of continuity issues, either. The ending of the movie doesn’t really line up with how ANH starts, and ends up making both Leia and Vader look stupid and the Empire look less overbearing and tyrannical.
I have never read any of the star wars books / expanded universe stuff outside of shadows of the empire, which… honestly I did not really care for.
Despite “All that sloppy writing and confusing continuity”, the Star Wars movies still manage to endure. Have you seen how many people show up at star wars conventions and celebrations? I also hear there was a theme park somewhere as well…
I do agree with you about rogue one though, I never did care for parts of the ending. I don’t feel the vader “slaughter” scene was needed at all. I really feel they took that overboard. As far as the ending lining up, you have a good point there as well. Does anyone know how Rogue One was originally going to end? I kinda had the impression they tossed out the original ending in favor of fan service.