My complaint wasn't that it made it hard, it was that it made it tedious. Having to play through large stretches of the game again just to change one decision wasn't fun, and the threat of that discouraged experimentation.
I agree, experimentation was the best part of the series although I think they felt the need of making it harder since this is the finale. Personally it really made me concentrate on what's happening not to die. Sadly there is no way around it even in New Game +. And when I want to explore just one thread (e.g. Aliizi) deaths just get in the way... ;)
