The only reason of the massive outcry on Other M is based on the idea that players had of Samus did not correspond with what the writers had.
The players envisioned Samus to be Just Another Emotionless Action Hero, Who Talks With Her Plasma Beam Instead of Words.
While the writers actually made her a real, interesting rounded character.
BIG SHOCK!
The game is fun, has some awesome moments.
And if you honestly thought that the "OMG I just conveniently found the weapon I needed to continue in a random cave in a ice covered zone." way of collecting items is tied in better in the narrative then putting them on-line. Then you seriously need to tell me how many times you found a random item in a ridiculous place, just when you needed it.
Sure, the 'putting the varia suit off-line even though it has no negative drawback' is a little silly in the narrative. It's still better then randomly finding it.