Very strange, and I use palpatine oftenly, but never seen this. Of course his lightning gets the target even before it hits, there is a zone between miss and hit where the lightning does reach the target but doesn't inflict damage, but it isn't like in the yoda video provided. Also this is something interesting as blocking saber users do get their stamina drained when caught by this lightning that wouldn't hit, so blocking a lot against palpatine can drag those lightning that wouldn't hit to consume your stamina (Rey and Yoda shouldn't mind that though).
But If the crosshair's middle point touches the enemy's body it should hit, it has been like this to me since I started using palpatine in patch 1.1 Good footage you found on this @DYSPROssium
