It's commonplace, but sensible.
1. Don't mess with the plot so much that you derail it beyond your ability to influence it.
2. But also, don't stand aside and just let bad things happen if you can help it. Death isn't technically required as long as you carefully do a no-death run.
I never considered how cool it would be to have a co-op option in a "save everyone" narrative-driven game, but that does sound kinda fun. Like, two players link up so you have twice as many flags being interacted with. At times, you cooperate, and during duel events or whatever, you can compete with each other.