I de-emphasized the battle scenes mainly because... I didn't care about them. Lucas took great pains to show elaborate war sequences and quite frankly that's NOT where the story is. Leia and Luke mention the Clone Wars in A New Hope so all that has to be done in the prequels is to show how they came about. The story is still about Anakin's rise and fall so the focus should stay there while war rages in the background. Also watching the war scenes was anticlimactic mainly because we know how it all ends. The clone troopers become storm troopers and the Republic becomes the Empire. You could make the case that we all know that Anakin becomes Vader but if you're making a saga about the Skywalker family and their trials and tribulations over a number of generations, then that's a much more compelling story than trying to illustrate a war fought long ago.

Anakin and Padme do not get married in my version but rather they hook up in a moment of passion. I chose to go that route because it seemed more true to how their lives are going at this point. They both have responsibilities and positions that take them away from each other frequently also let's not forget that Skywalker, Kenobi, Yoda and the rest of the Jedi Knights are essentially monks. Vader did Force choke a dude who mocked his "religion" and there is a spiritual feel to the Force, that is until George Mr. Midi-chlorian Lucas decided to make it nothing more than bacteria in the blood. So there's a lot of pent up passion in these guys. Padme and Anakin share a moment but ultimately can't do more to realize their desire to be with each other. And that contributes to his slide.