Nah, Catan's among those. It's very common for an initial set-up to leave 1-2 players with no realistic path to victory by turn 2 or so, even if they've made the best choices available to them. Once you learn to spot it, the game kinda sucks. It's not fun to play a game as one of those players, and it's not fun to play a game where some of the other people at the table are just filling space less than 25% of the way through the game. It's not as bad as some others for early player elimination (as world-domination-mode Risk is infamous for) but it also doesn't officially eliminate them, which is arguably even worse.
Spot on. I think I tried playing it with a 1d12 a few times, but that merely fixed the most glaring part of the problem and wasn't enough to redeem inevitable-slow-loss dynamic. Perhaps some expansions give more breathing room and different dynamics to specialize in.
Catan is Monopoly for those who want to look a little smarter. Lots of party games are much better than Catan.
I think most people who like board games would choose pictionary over it. At least that can fulfill a quick warmup role to move on to something better.
Is it possible you're confusing Catan with Monopoly or Pictionary or any party game ever?