Sepharih said:

Vladius said:

Then don't watch Star Wars I guess. (???)
Is Obi Wan tricking a storm trooper because the storm trooper is a less powerful mind 10x the cop out of him dicing them to pieces with a lightsaber?

The thing is, he does both.
He does both with Anakin, you seem to have no problems with that. He wants the power to save Padme, his love, who he fears losing, and to kill the Tusken Raiders in vengeance for his mother's sake.
Why is it wrong when it's done in a more subtle way? Luke wants the power to save his friends, who he loves, who he fears losing, and to kill Darth Vader and the Emperor out of vengeance for the ones already lost.

I do have problems with Anakin's turn. My problem with Luke's near turn is that while it has a decent amount of buildup and drama.....the motivation is not clear and therefore kills tension. My problem with Anakin's turn is that his motivation makes sense (within the context of the story mind you)....but it's far too sudden and too much like a switch going off that it hurts the story.

Tricking a stormtrooper is a plot device/character development for obi-wan kenobi. The problem I have isn't that it disobeys the rules of the universe, but that explaining Luke/Anakin's motivation as simply the emperor's influence in the force makes for a less compelling story.

That's the problem, you're oversimplifying a situation that was never simple. It's partially the Emperor/Darth Vader's influence in the Force, y'know, like Yoda and Obi Wan told Luke many times over the course of both ESB and ROTJ, and partially Luke's other motivations, which the Emperor exploits.

If you want to go off of how much "tension" you feel, which is pretty arbitrary and not at all indicative of the rest of the viewing population, I think that scene is the most tense in all of them.
The point of the tension is not "oh no, Luke is going to turn to the dark side," which might be your problem. The point is that by this time there's so many things as stake, there's questions that it raises, not answers - will Darth Vader kill Luke? will Luke kill his own father? will Luke turn to the dark side? will Luke be able to save his friends? will the Emperor be able to exploit the end result of the duel?
That's why when Luke realizes what he's done, and he drops his lightsaber, and he says that he's a Jedi, it's a very triumphant moment. He refuses to let his emotions get the better of him. You're thinking of it as a "near turn" when the turn isn't the point, it's about the characters. Maybe Luke doesn't have sufficient motivation to turn! But that's irrelevant, it's that he easily could have without a decision to make on his part.

Emotions aren't about cost-benefit analysis, after all. The Dark Side is always described as "seducing" people. Unless you're enacting a fantasy in artificial conditions, do you ever want to be seduced? It's shown time after time that the Force intensifies your emotions, which is why using the Force in anger or fear or other powerful emotions leads you to the dark side. There's something supernatural about the evil in the Star Wars universe, because there's something supernatural about the Force in general.