The young Vito scenes are truly missed once the Saga gets to Part II. Those scenes help balance positive feelings amongst all of the negativity and downfall of Michael in pt. II.
You are absolutely right.
Despite that "...much larger character arc for Michael...", mentioned in another post, so much more is lost in the latter GF II story without the young Vito segments woven in.
Because of the deleted scenes which we would never have gotten to see otherwise, I happen to enjoy the GF Saga when it's aired; they do enrich the story...right up until we get to that First Communion party in Nevada.
