It was pretty much BS. The game gives you so many opportunities to disregard Triss as a lover interest.

You can get engaged to her.

And Triss was an untrustworthy bitch as far as I'm concerned.

I can only imagine that in the month since the assassination Triss proved trustworthy after all, but I don't see how that would change having engaged yourself to Shani. Or as I play it; that Geralt decided to keep his friends close, but his enemies closer.

Let's see...
Why I dislike Triss in points:
1. She deceived Geralt and charmed him into falling in love with her (in the books), though lying to a guy, who just lost his memory, that you are his only true love counts too.
2. She refused to help Yennefer, Ciri and Geralt.
3. Mary-Sueism, and the fact that developers try to make her as innocent as saint, while she participated in political intrigues (Thanedd Coup, the Lodge, etc.), and was perfectly aware of what she was doing.
4. Overexposure and invincibility. What is funny in making NPCs vulnerable to your decisions and Geralt's sword, when she is practically immortal?
5. Her design. Not only the infamous auburn hair, but also she was heavily scarred on her bosom and declined to wear dresses with cleavage because of it. She acted more OOC in the first game, but even in the sequel she seems a different person than she was in the books.
Bonus: She was a bff of Yennefer, yet cheated with Geralt and continued to harbor romantic feelings for him. Many of you are like, "Yennefer was mean and bitchy to Geralt, she deserved that!", but would you let your best friend stole your partner just because you aren't nice 24/7?

I am going to be blunt and tell you to go away...

People like you are, in no small measure, responsible for ruining BioWare by demanding fan service in their products, demanding that something must happen in their video game or else... I am also willing to bet that given the chance your signature would sport countless banners detailing just what romances and options you “support” (and I use a word loosely since I know you actually demand them) for Witcher 3.

There are games with protagonist centred morality (as quoted by one smart man on this forum) and then there are gamers who seem to think that the games they play should be centred around their very own perception of things (however flawed or incorrect it may be) or else... and they are prepared to back said demands with threads such as this one (and others you are responsible in the past).

A word of advice before we part... treat a game like a book, if you do not like it, do not read it.
Though truth be told I have a feeling you are the kind of person who would send death threats to RR Martin for killing Ned Stark in Game of Thrones just because it turned out differently to what you wanted...

I've only read one of the books, so I'm going by in-game Triss. And yes, I thought Yennefer was a manipulative strumpet in The Last Wish.

And Mary Sue is a useless concept imo.

I agree with the OP. I also imported my original save games hoping to be with Shani but found Triss instead. I would have thought that Shani would make atleast an appearance at some point during the campaign. Same with Vessemer and Kalkstein...oh well. TW2 is still an awesome game!

She is a reccuring character. She appears in the first volume of the saga (there's even a romantic thing going on between her and Geralt) and she also makes an appearance in fifth volume. I'd say she's not a major character in the novels but definitely not minor.

As far as i know the relationship between Geralt and Yen was not conjured by magic spell. It was a very strong feeling and none of them was able to love anybody else. There was also a great tension between Yen and Triss (they were great friends in the novels) because Triss always felt something deep for Geralt (they had a brief romantic relationship but Geralt gave her up because of Yennefer) and Yennefer was jealous.

EDIT:
Also i'd like to point that the game doesn't do Triss justice. She was a great character in the saga, while Yennefer was a cold bitch most of the time.

@Scampywiak: It's obviously that If you haven't read the books, and you know only Triss from the game, your perception of her varies from those, who know both "versions" of Triss. I suppose, I could embrace her character far better, if I hadn't read the books and known the more or less subtle differences in how Sapkowski and the CD Projekt wrote her.
Speaking of Yen, she evolved greatly, personality-wise, between the short stories and saga period, probably far more than the protagonist, Geralt, itself. In TLW she is seen mostly through Geralt's POV, so his biases may have a heavy influence on how readers perceive her. In the saga, however, she does a lot more and is better fleshed out, thus, I tend to think this is how she really is, and judge her character on what she have done during the events shown in those fifth books, rather than in one or two short stories.

@Summit: I have to disagree with you on that one. While I agree that Yennefer is not the nicest character out there, she is certainly not cold. She is far more emotional and prone to anger or annoyance than, f.e Geralt or Dandelion. Her coldness attitude is only a facade, and was easily shattered by young Ciri in the first book. It's not hard to believe that a person, who experienced so much pain and sadness during her youth, would turn out to appear emotionless and dominating in order to preserve herself from suffering even more. She was a very typical example of those who are afraid of falling in love and being vulnerable. Thankfully, throughout the plot, she managed to do wonderful things for her most beloved ones, Ciri and Geralt, that put and end to all doubts regarding her fear of loving others.

IMO, the most emotionless (and cold) character in the books is Francesca Findabair. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say that she hasn't shown any sign of emotions, even though she encountered very emotional situations, some of them would certainly disturb stoics.

In terms of Yen, I'm definitely in the "don't see what Geralt sees in her" crowd. I get the attraction, but don't see why he would think she's particularly special, as in the love of his life. When they first meet, she clearly ensorcells him with some kind of geas, but the story is odd because she expresses surprise at him being so smitten later, when the geas has apparently worn off. And there are the repeated references to the smell of lilac and gooseberries, which may not have worked well in the translation. Either it meant that Geralt continued to be under her spell, despite it appearing to have worn off, or it was somehow a metaphor for being enchanted first by magic, then by love.

Triss, like all the characters, is far from perfect, but I think she's the lesser of evils, a recurring theme in the witcher universe. ;) And Geralt doesn't seem to like serious relationships with innocent women.

As far as the game goes, I don't want CDPR to have to follow the novels too closely. They shouldn't violate any concepts of the world or characters, but IMO it's more entertaining if they develop the stories for the games, rather than just parroting the books.

Use the books for inspiration, they are good, but I agree that CD Projekt should take their own direction and creativity in the games. It makes the games more unique.

To understand relationship between Gerald and Yen, it is necessary to read short novel "The Last wish", "Poslední přání" in Czech and "Ostatnie życzenie" in Polish. Some other aspects of their relationship are also noted in "A Shard of Ice" ("Kousek ledu", "Okruh lodu") and "The Bounds of Reason" ("Hranice možností", "Granica możliwości"). Here Gerald met for example Crinfrid Reavers.

In the end this is a role playing game and we are playing the role of Gerald, as such the game should try to cater for all tastes, our tastes (within reason and limitations of the setting)... This may not always be possible of course as such the designers should always be given a healthy benefit of the doubt and a considerable creative freedom.

It would also be nice to see fans actually respect other fans choices and opinions rather than starting "I hate this... I hate that... because it is against my perception of the game..." threads.

Discussions should always be welcomed, after all that is what forums were invented for, monologues about how you know the best and how your interpretation is supreme to that of others (I am not pointing in anyone's direction with this statement) are obviously not very constructive.

You forgot to mention "Something More", the last story in "The Sword Of Destiny" collection where Geralt finds Yennefer intent on seducing a young drunk peasant during the feast of Belleteyn.

I doubt it's possible to fully understand their relationship without reading the whole saga, it's a shame that there is no english translation yet.