I can't comment on the plasticity of titanium.
But complex microstructures can be designed to have non-sudden failures. Eg. you could ensure that a visible crack appears at 0.75x the ultimate strength, yet doesn't fail till 1.0x the strength.
You can also design structures so that a 'crack' is either 1mm wide or not there at all (ie. no hairline cracks).
such features of microstructures are not free though - you will lose strength/weight to get them.