Yes that is why I worded it the way I did.
Mutually exclusive character routes and likely soon to be full mutually exclusive party members is waaaay worse than missable content IMO. (though I still adore both games)
Honestly, I would say the opposite. Allow me to explain what I mean.
If you have a game with multiple routes that are hard exclusive than your expectations are set that you will not see them all. So not seeing it all is not a big disappointment. By contrast, if you are expected to be able to hit all the content in one playthrough than your expectations are that you indeed will.
Thus, missing any content in the former case is not really a big deal emotionally while doing so in the later can make you feel cheated and annoyed. This in turn has the potential to turn the game into an annoying scavenger hunt where you focus more on "getting them all" than on enjoying the game.
So we are already starting off on the wrong foot. And beyond that it all depends on how much effort actually went into the experience. If the game is actually enjoyable and each of those routes is fleshed out as opposed to being a self contained thing glued onto the side of the plot each of them can end up feeling like a whole different experience to play through. At which point you basically have multiple games for the price of one. Done right, and it really gives you a good reason to play through the game again and again to find and explore them all. And if not, well you can still enjoy the one route you knowingly picked to follow, finish it and call it a day.
So overall I would say that a game with hard exclusive routes done right is the better option. It's just harder to do right.
