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Originally Posted by blankall
My take on it was that even after the injury, Vader was still far more powerful than other force users, hence his ability to beat all of the remaining Jedi, including Yoda, in a one on one battle.
Palpatine, on the other hand, seemed like a relatively weak force user (in comparison to Vader), but had the ability to manipulate others. I'm not sure if that was part of his force abilities, or if he just happened to also have that talent.
So when Luke is saying he's only felt power like that once, it has to be in reference to Vader. As Luke has felt Vader's power, which was far more powerful than other force users.
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This could be a wonderful Star Wars debate.
Ok, lets look at Vader's power
As Anakin Skywalker he was supremely powerful, he had the ability to see into the future, he had the ability to manipulate objects and people with force persuasion. He of course had the ability of perception which allowed him to be a supreme fighter and swordsman who believed himself to be better then Yoda.
When he became Darth Vader he dueled Obi-Wan Kenobi and was defeated, maybe not because of his strength in the force, but because he was still unsure of his place in the world as a Sith and constrained by his teachings by the Jedi. In the books Revenge of the Sith and Dark Lord, Palpatine confronted Vader and said that he lost to Kenobi because Kenobi had one clear goal which was the destruction of Vader. He then concluded that if Vader had faced Yoda he would have been killed.
Yoda in the Revenge of the Sith novel acknowledged during his fight with Palpatine that he couldn't beat Palpatine, first of all because they were fairly evenly matched, but second of all because Yoda had spent his life training to fight the Sith from a thousand years ago, whereas the Sith when they vanished into hiding had spent a thousand years evolving learning everything they could about the Force and the application of power and all of that information and training had been passed down until it reached Palpatine. Yoda stated that he just didn't have it to beat Palpatine. Even after Yoda went into exile Palpatine continued to learn and evolve and grow. However unlike previous Sith Master/Apprentice relationships, Vader was angry because Palpatine would only hand over the information in tidbits and sparingly.
Vader after his injuries couldn't manipulate the force in the same way, he wasn't the peerless chosen one anymore or the hero without fear. He couldn't cast force lightning, or look into the future at the currents of the force. While he could call across great distances and still had the perception that allowed him to have an advantage in the fight, he also acknowledged in Dark Lord that he was severely limited by his injuries and his suit to the point where just walking required him to use the Force.
When you also look at the whole Yoda and Palpatine dynamic they were both extremely powerful. but while Yoda followed the limiting Jedi code and was all about being selfless, Palpatine represented both chaos and a lack of limits.
Even going to back to the Opera House scene when he was lecturing Anakin on the difference between the Sith and the Jedi.
The Sith only look inward and concern themselves with their acquisition of power. Because of that Palpatine had no constraints or limitations on how he used the force. Whereas Yoda had limitation on what he could do. What if Yoda had given into his anger and hit Palpatine with force lightning or a choke hold. but Palpatine didn't need to worry about that.
Also remember that the Sith use their power to gain knowledge, but the Jedi used Knowledge to gain power, a small distinction to be sure, but Palpatine was an expression of that.
As well in a final distinction of power. Palpatine use his abilities to manipulate the force itself, he was able to cloud it and corrupt it and deny the Jedi the ability to use it, that was a huge advantage by Palpatine over all the Jedi because it denied the Jedi the ability to see his plan unfolding.