I guess I'm not the only one bothered by TW2 Triss. For the same reason: she acts too girly around Geralt, when she's a battle-scarred (literally) veteran sorceress who can call down a hailstorm that still has the world wondering how she did it.

I do like the idea that she would have shagged half of Roche's platoon just so she could see Geralt's expression when she told him about it. He can't get away with pulling a double standard on her.

And they did do a good job of conveying the sincerity of her friendship for Geralt and Yen.

I say they settle it with a mud wrestling match.

Oops, sorry. I just meant that she's tougher at the end than she is at other places in the series. She's still a do-gooder with a tendency to get in over her head: the situation she causes in the elven garden if Geralt takes her with him is a fair example. I preferred her characterization in TW1, but I also preferred her voice actress in that game. The current VA does a good job with her role, but it's change. (The gasping is a bit much, but I do like her giggle at the end of one of the trailers when she knocks a very drunken Geralt onto the floor. Nicely done, that.)

Still, I don't think Triss is a complete damsel-in-distress. She covers the King's retreat from the dragon, she gets into fights and tries to hold her own, she's willing to risk everything for Geralt and Yennefer... I think there's still a good character there. Her performance in the series is uneven, and she's still uneven. I hope they don't push her faults so far that she becomes nothing but a doormat, but I suppose she shouldn't be too perfect or too cool, either.

Yeah, Yennefer may not be my favorite, but she's pretty awesome. Honestly, though, I also like Philippa. Well, as a character. I don't think I'd like to know her personally.

I'm still waiting for womens world cup heavy rain white shirt muddy field match...I don't think either will happen =(

I am a bit curious about the strength of their relationship as well, (inc spoiler if you haven't read 'The Last Wish') having just read how it started with Geralt's final wish to a Djinni and moments later they are naked and rolling around. I am curious to know what that last wish was and wonder if it ever gets explained.

Triss does seem a hell of lot nicer than in W1; which is doubly annoying along with the missing Shani.

After the cutscene between Chapter 2 and 3 back W1, I consider Triss untrustworthy. Cannot trust her, and hooked up with Shani. The only reason I didn't engage myself to her, was because I couldn't find an amber ring before the plot continued.

And yet now, Shani is gone, and Geralt talks about the untrustworthy bitch Triss like she's the love of his life. Which is annoying, I'm trying to look at it as Geralt keeping his friends close but his enemies closer, but the constant googly-eyes annoy the hell out of me.

I still want to know what the hell happened to Shani between W1 and W2. As far as I'm concerned, both Yennefer and Triss can go plough themselves.

I initially chose Shani but regretted it. She throws the chains on mighty fast lol. But for Triss to barely tolerate your presence in W1 if you choose Shani, import your save, and you are waking up together naked like everything is fairies and unicorns dancing in raining skittles coming out of a flaming double rainbow just doesn't make much sense. Isn't it only a month after the end of W1?

BLOOD OF ELVES SPOILER BELOW






At least judging from the first book, Triss actually is kind of girly. At first, it kind of annoyed me how she was in W2 compared to W1, but when read the book and saw her behavior in Blood of Elves, the W2 portrayal seems more accurate (yea, the overuse of gasping/moaning is annoying though). Also, remember that the sorceresses generally like to keep their appearances young, so it's no surprise that she sounds and looks like she's still in her 20's.

Unless something changes in the books I haven't read yet, Triss is more or less obsessed with Geralt. Her hiding of information is not really an attempt to manipulate Geralt. Rather, it's Triss having a chronic problem of divided loyalties (this too is mentioned in Blood of Elves).

Interesting. I was thinking about buying Blood of Elves now that I finished The Last Wish, is there any particular order the stories should be read in?

You're right; it is at best odd. I would have found it more convincing if Triss were standoffish in the Prologue, then they reconcile later.

But Triss is smitten with Geralt, and her reaction in TW1 is at least as much about Geralt's decision to leave Alvin with Shani. Yeah, there's an open flame of jealousy there, but it's not the sort that would cause her to throw him out of her life (and bed) forever. It's more like the sort that would lead to great make-up sex once she got over it, which was pretty fast.

The more I see of TW2, the less I'm dissatisfied over Shani's absence. Sure, I miss her character, but I do not think the game would be improved if both Shani and Ves were there, and I would not want Ves left out.

An example from the top of your head?
It's not that long ago that I read it, but maybe I interpreted it differently...?

Well, she does take baths rather often for Lambert's taste while she's at Kaer Morhen, she teaches Ciri about make-up and how to cope with her menstrual cycle, and she apparently knows a bit about sewing. She's girly (at least compared to the witchers) but not weak or timid, and she can hold her own with the boys without being completely like them. She also has that little romantic meltdown, but she's still really sick and not terribly rational at the time.

If I had to come up with an in-game or in-narrative reason for her being noticeably more girly in TW2 than TW1, I would guess that it's her insecurities showing. She seems to me to be most like her TW1 self in the tent at the beginning. Her conversation with Geralt about the king, his affairs, and his little war sounds a lot like the Triss of the cocktail party in Act 3 of the first game. She's in her element: at court working somewhere between the kings, their intelligence services, and the Lodge of Sorceresses. Once her relationship to those institutions breaks down and she's on her own, her self-confidence slips a bit.

I'd imagine it had more to do with the whole Geralt/Yennefer thing popping up, because she's only really like that in the scenes that relate to that whole plotline. Which makes a degree of sense if you think about it from the perspective of her being understandably torn between losing Geralt and recovering Yennefer. I mean, if you go the route where you rescue her, she basically figures out the plot of the game by herself and salvages the whole political mess by throwing Sile and Phillipa to the wolves. That moment more or less redeemed the early game chickification in my eyes. But I won't deny that there's clearly a difference between how she was written in Witcher 1 and Witcher 2.

I heard that you're supposed to read Sword of Destiny before reading Blood of Elves. The former has not been translated to English, but there is fan translation available as well as partial translation of Times of Contempt (the book after Blood of Elves): http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/fan_translation_of_the_witcher_stories_and_novels/page1
Some of the translated parts sound awkward, but in general they are more than sufficient in terms of plot exposition.