User blog comment:The Milkman/No Love For Leviathan?/@comment-4950455-20120921100328

I truly hate to get involved in this argument, but I just finished watching videos of both the original and Extended Cut endings on YouTube, and I find myself compelled to say why the latter was needed. Beyond anything else that's been said, I find this best sums up my position:

When I saw the ending of Mass Effect 3 for the first time, I went in expecting, beyond anything else, a definitive conclusion to the trilogy with all - or at least most - loose ends wrapped up. There might be some left-over questions, maybe a sequel hook or two (though I hoped not), but first and foremost I'd be able to sit back and consider everything wrapped up.

Instead, I found myself wondering whether I had just inadvertently condemned my love interest and best friend (or the rest of the crew if the planet was dextro) to a horrific death by starvation.

That, in my view, is why the original ending was unsatisfactory in a nutshell.