You don't have to play perfectly but there are decisions that ruin paths on their own if you mess them up. You can load a save of course, but apart from that it's impossible to regain a path once you lost it.
If you don't like that, I have the perfect mod for you. It can notify you if you just made a mistake, so you don't have to worry about missing out on anything. It's only available for the English version though.