BioWare can't afford to let any squadmates die.

I already knew this from a few months ago. I didn't think this was a surprise for anyone. That article is from 2016.

If all the characters who could die had the same personalities, it wouldn't be an issue; but neither would the players be happy with a story about 12 squad mates who are all essentially the same person.  A plot needs strong central characters to drive it forward.  Change the personalities of those characters and you have to change the whole direction the story takes.  It's unreasonable to expect Bioware to do that to accommodate 12 very different personalities from ME2 integrally into the plot of ME3 when they can occur in so many different possible combinations of personalities.  Bioware can't be expected to take their stories in so many different directions at once and still have the story hold together at all.  A higher budget won't fix that problem.

Yeah no one died in DAI, except Trespasser, but that's all depending on a choice you made in the main game.

I remember they said your squad will not forget if you are unpleasant with them and bring it up later, but nothing about walking out if you push them too far. It seems they fight back.

Pretty much everyone in ME2 dies in ME3 anyways, so the SM ends up feeling pretty pointless.

That's awesome news. I've hated every unavoidable party member death, or party members that quit the party in Bioware games. Yoshimo, Bastila, Ashley/Kaidan... they piss me off so much because you build a party around them, or you just like them, and then they are not available anymore. Annoying! Yeah they die for story reason, but gameplay should come first. You can build a great story without some BS death.

It was a lesser aggravation with the death of party members in ME2, or Wrex in ME1, because if you knew what you were doing you could avoid them all.

Anyways, it's a relief that in ME:A I won't have to deal with that bullshit.

I guess Viv or Cass also have a chance to "leave" if you give them that position.

She tried to make Leliana Divine, but ended up with Cass. I love how when Trespasser started, Dorian greeted you like an old friend. It was like that punch erased all his memories of how bad things ended up between you.

Yeah "might be dead" is not an excuse for anything, no matter what BioWare tries to tell you.

Though making the entire cast of a game killable is dumb on another level entirely.

On this cast, whether they live or die:

That depends on the playthrough. The only ones guaranteed to die is Thane and Legion. All others can live.

Haha true but if you don't do their loyalty missions in ME2 and they survive, they won't in ME3. That whole Miranda thing still bugs me most though. No matter how loyal she is, she keeps dying unless I shoot her sister.

The one's that will die if not loyal in ME3 are Grunt, Miranda, Zaeed and Kasumi. The rest can survive. As I said, Legion and Thane will not. If you didn't know. If Miranda's loyalty mission has been completed, but the player loses her loyalty when choosing Jack, Miranda will still survive ME3 if all the stuff is met.

With your case, it sounds like your reputation isn't high enough to get the blue/red dialogue for Shepard to use the power of the voice.