The alternative is offering different paths that are actually doable.
Everything is doable if you have the skills.
Instead, in AoD, you actually enforce one path.
Not the case at all. Here's one example:
http://images.akamai.steamuserconte...440/75C85ECCE7979E440D6445477A35523B8EE33473/
Very average stats: STR 5 DEX 9, CON 5, PER 8, INT 6, CHA 7
Dagger/Dodge 9, Critical Strike 7, Streetwise/Alchemy 6, Impersonate 5
Here's another one:
http://images.akamai.steamuserconte...617/6A621927F07A339F3575403E94E72C023EB61C0E/
STR 7 DEX 8, CON 6, PER 8, INT 7, CHA 5
Hammer 8, Dodge 10, Critical Strike 6
Persuasion 8, Lore 8, Crafting 6, Streetwise 5, Trading 4, Lockpick 4 - that's a truckload of non-combat skills for a character with 155 kills.
Sure, we have decisions to take, but in the end, not taking the one you judge ok just leads to a quick death more often than not. So it's a false choice. It's an illusion and it just leads to frustration.
We don't decide which path leads to glory and which path leads to death; we set the checks and difficulty. The rest is up to you. Obviously, a first-time player would struggle, whereas a more experienced player would be able to cover more skills, but that's normal.
A first-time player wouldn't be able to dual-class successfully in BG2 either.