Without this lower quality footage, the ending would not exist.

One has to remember that this was once considered lost and footage was pieced together from two sources. The only complaint from a viewers perspective is that there is a notable drop in video quality shortly before the end. Overall, the story is truer to the novel and seeing Barry Nelson's American 'Jimmy' Bond is fascinating. There are some major liberties taken in this version of Casino Royale (most notably combining Vesper and Mathis into 'Valerie Mathis,' changing the torture scene, and switching up the nationalities of the characters) but very few of the changes can't be justified based on the format.