Personally I think Lucas & Co. messed up the whole Prequel Yoda approach. According to the timeline (20-30 years before ANH), Yoda would have been 800+ years old.

If it was a 400 or 500 year old Yoda then his saber antics would probably be tolerable. But at 800+ years, you'd think he would have mellowed and focused on the wisdom & philosophy of the Force (as he did in ESB).

Probably the same would apply to Palpatine/Sidious. Being the Sith Lord that he is, it would have been more believable if his use of lightsaber was reduced & just focused on using the Darkside to manipulate the events that unfolded throughout the PT.