I'm not very far into the game, (end act 1) but when I finished TW1, Triss and Geralt declared their love for one another. It just seems like there isn't any difference between the way they interact with one another, than when I use a savegame that has Shiani, as Geralt's lover.

Anyone agree?

Shani is a speedbump in Geralt's long and complicated love with two sorceresses who also happen to be the best of friends. Chalk Shani up to Geralt's amnesia, and move on. ;p

Triss and Geralt have been lovers in the past (books), so the exact nature of their intimacy is up to you and your save files, but the fact of it is from Sapkowski. Triss is also more integral to the story they created for TW2, so I think poor Shani just got written out, at least temporarily. CDPR is interested in expansions, so maybe we'll see her again. Look at it this way: she's certainly safer from Yennefer than Triss is if they ever meet.

It's fairly late in act 1.

Depending on your choices, you can actually not choose to romance (or have sex) with Triss at all. In fact, you can be downright mean about it by the end of the game. :p That said, she's your only "long term" (and I use that in the loosest sense of the words) romance option, so from a roleplaying standpoint, keeping her at arm's length could be seen as Geralt's recovering his memories concerning Yennefer.

Anyways, to better answer your question, sex, or no sex, with Triss is dependent on the Rose of Rememberance quest (in my tireless attempt to bed Sile, I actually tried a game where I didn't sleep with Triss in case that was some hidden flag for the other sorceress to finally decide to succumb to Geralt's charms). When you do that quest is dependent on when you visited Loredo. If you visited him immediately, then you could have done it very soon into the Act. Or, you can wait till you've done everything else, in which case you might not face the choice until the very end of the Act.

I've visited Loredo, but have not had the Rose quest yet. I will be sure and keep an eye out for it. Is that quest dependent on how you ended TW 1?

You visit Loredo. When you leave his compound, Triss stops you and tells you to visit prison barge. After prison barge, she suggests Rose of Remembrance. If you take her with you, then sex happens. If not, then sex doesn't happen.

It's possible she doesn't tell you to visit the barge until you've killed the Old Man. I'd always done everything in the Act possible before even visiting Loredo, but since visiting Loredo is something you can do from the start of the Act, I kind of just assumed you could do it early as well.

No. You'll get it no matter what, and you're close if you're wrapping up the Kayran. One can always kill time on side quests, obviously, but the Rose quest involves a major set of decisions that you can't skip.

Woot!

I've done a few of the side quests, got some more to do, just taking everything as it comes (spent A LOT of time playing today). I tell ya, I didn't see the elf woman as guilty. I thought for sure that was just racism of the guards. Surprised the hell out of me when she sprang that ambush.

The only reason I helped her in my first playthrough was because I originally thought it'd be like the first game, where Geralt would have a ton of sex, and this sounded like a ripe opportunity for him to get lucky. ;p Once I realized the story was focused on his relationships with two sorceresses, and thus copious amounts of random sex were no longer a part of the game, that damn hippy elf got a sword through her spleen!

I waited until I knew she was guilty. :) Still, it would be nice if they tossed in more sexcapades, ala TW 1, especially since they've handled the sex scenes so well.

They do pretty much default to the Triss option in the original game no matter what. That doesn't really bother me, choosing a canonical path allows for better storytelling. Fallout did the same thing.

What they did in TW 1 worked well (and you could plough just about anyone...prostitutes, Triss, Shanni, Abigail, Rayla, Nurse, villagers, Toruviel, the vamps, Celina, Adda...did I miss anyone? LOL).

Guys, Geralt was nailing Shani in The Blood Of Elves (and deliberately not Triss). You know, since everyone is buying into the misconception that Shani has no history with Geralt.