The saga was released middle-first: the 1977 film is Episode IV, and the three prequels that explain it did not arrive until twenty-two years later. That ordering is not an accident of scheduling — the single most quoted line in the series is a reveal the prequels spend three films setting up, and watching them first hands it to you before anyone has earned it. Release order keeps the surprise. Story order runs straight through from the Republic to the end, and folds the two standalones in where they belong.