Whether RPGs are better off prioritising player freedom or endeavouring to have several doors slam shut every time you put another foot forwards in order to encourage multiple runs with different characters is, to put it bluntly, something I reckon will still be a matter of debate in the year 4000. We'll all have evolved in non-corporeal beings floating in a galaxy that's been racked by such change that even the six million copies of The Elder Scrolls 5 we've littered the Earth with will have been swept away into the great recycling bin on the gods' desktop, and there'll still be sniping going on about whether it's ok that Skyrim lets you be a master thiefssassin who leads the companions, knows every spell under the sun, and slapped up a world-eating dragon for fun.
For what it's worth, the game's lead designer reckons both games that do and don't let you do that have their merits when executed well.