Maybe they were removed solely on the case of their being 'too many stats'. Since the stats aren't explained in the instruction manual players were required to work out how each one affected their character.
For a new player, that could be quite difficult. (e.g/ Playing as an archer, do I stack dexterity or agility? Or both?)
Plus how would charisma affect your character? If the game gave the multiple choice options during NPC communication I could see a point to it, but otherwise it's fairly useless as a stat.