Just remembered something, there are several quests where you have to follow a scent, but not once you have to follow the scent of gooseberries and lilac, really disappointed by that, especially since Geralt can say that she smells wonderful, when they meet again at Skellige.
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I'll admit I'm partial to Triss, and went her route during my 1st play through.
I did like Yen's character though even then, it is clear that past the harsh facade she has a heart of gold and truly cares for both Geralt and Ciri. She is a strong and determined woman.
I would have excused her rudeness if she was that way to everyone, but given how she address the emperor, it is clear she has control over it. I won't accept the excuse that the emperor can kill her if she's rude, because well, Geralt does exactly that and gets away with it, the emperor is a practical man. He won't do anything as long as he needs her.
On her looks I won't dwell much, since she is perfection embodied. And I mean that literally. Love her VA too, at least the English one.
Nothing to do with her per se, but I didn't like the way it she was pushed in the spotlight against the player wishes.
In my 2nd playthrough which I'm about to start, I'm go with her route so I'm guessing I'll be ok with that. Hopefully I'll discover more good things about her.
I'll comment on that as I go.
I did like Yen's character though even then, it is clear that past the harsh facade she has a heart of gold and truly cares for both Geralt and Ciri. She is a strong and determined woman.
I would have excused her rudeness if she was that way to everyone, but given how she address the emperor, it is clear she has control over it. I won't accept the excuse that the emperor can kill her if she's rude, because well, Geralt does exactly that and gets away with it, the emperor is a practical man. He won't do anything as long as he needs her.
On her looks I won't dwell much, since she is perfection embodied. And I mean that literally. Love her VA too, at least the English one.
Nothing to do with her per se, but I didn't like the way it she was pushed in the spotlight against the player wishes.
In my 2nd playthrough which I'm about to start, I'm go with her route so I'm guessing I'll be ok with that. Hopefully I'll discover more good things about her.
I'll comment on that as I go.
Yennefer is, as an old Sorceress, familiar with politics and how to act in such a situation, while Geralt never was a diplomatic person, and the only reason why he can do this, is because the Emperor needs Geralt (more than he needs Yen actually). He even says so on the ship later in the game when you get Fringilla.
When i was rather rude to Emhyr, he told me to not forget with whom i am talking to, but Geralt has also an unique history with Emhyr. Without spoiling anything, Emhyr wouldn't be the same person without Geralt's doing in the books.
As for Yennefer, Emhyr promised her and the other sorcerers of the lodge immunity or at least refuge, if she finds Ciri and bring her back, what she probably never intended to do, but anyway, if your fellow colleagues are being hunted and burned at every corner, you won't bite the last hand you are getting, even if it is a black one.
Just look at Keira, she was so despaired that she even tried her luck with Radovid.
All in all i am not really happy with the situation with the sorcerers in the games, they got screwed way too fast. In the books there was a whole society with schools and even research buildings, but that went all downhill with the witch hunt and it doesn't look like it gets restored anytime, sigh.
Yeah, CDPR kinda created this self-made problem by doing their own thing, offering/establishing Triss as an alternative, but at the same time they wanted to be faithful to the books. But by doing that they could only satisfy a part of the players, people like me, who never doubted the relationship to Yennefer.
I tried to give my opinion in one of those Triss' threads, maybe to explain why it happened this way, but i kinda fear looking into it again and see the reactions of it...
I have constantly the feeling to be sorry that it happened this way and not different, because if you pursue Yennefer and reaffirm their relationship, it is exactly how i thought it would be. The only thing i regret is not being able to talk thoroughly with Triss.
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I agree with this. The sorcerer/sorceress society in the books was an ancient and influential, and well established order. We have the schools in Aretuza and Ban Ard, and hundreds of important mages. But, CDPR razed all that quite quickly, and without thought it seemed.
Yup, there's really no point in going into those Triss threads anymore. Whatever you say in defense of Yennefer doesn't seem to matter. So, we can keep to this thread and discuss our beloved Yen here.
You can always use your own imagination if you feel something is missing in the game. For example when Geralt returns from the Isle of mist with Ciri, and meets Triss who has been invited by Yen, I just imagine, that the two (Yen and Triss) were talking about Geralt in his absence and well...clearing the situation, they are best friends after all. So I am sure they had some kind of girls talk about "that guy".
That's typical Yennefer, always dissatisfied and self righteous.
I really wanted the option to confront her for seducing Auckes and use her own words that "amnesia is not a free pass" on her, but I thought "hey, she slept around when she didn't have amnesia".
I truly don't get why Geralt tolerates her, and I say the true love and so forth is bullshit.
Triss truly stole my heart in the games, because she is kind and nurturing and she doesn't take cheap shots at Geralt like Yennefer does.
But I think Yennefer seemed more important in this story because of her relationship with Ciri. I wanted to see more Triss, but I get where CDPR came from.
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^Yennefer was always important to the story - I don't know why CDPR decided to have Triss as main romance option with their first two games.. I remember how fans were bitching that they chosed Triss over Yen on some book forums when the first game was released. And now this complaining about Triss ehm...I mean some fans are never satisfied and even though there would be more Triss content - fans would complain about something else.
I don't like to start the Triss vs. Yen discussion here - for that there are tons of other threads - let's talk about Yen and why we like her in the books and the game.
I don't like to start the Triss vs. Yen discussion here - for that there are tons of other threads - let's talk about Yen and why we like her in the books and the game.
Are there people seriously criticizing Yennefer for siding with Emhyr? Sigh. I guess those people have no moral qualms when Geralt under no death threats worked as Foltest's glorified bodyguard.
This was and continues to be one of my biggest complaint towards CD Projekt's lore. Like you said, in the canon the mages society was rich, complex and powerful; they were not to be taken down so quickly. Their knowledge resembles ours as far as genetics and some parts of medicine were concerned (except reproductive system, as Sapkowski wanted their mages senile). I fail to see how some brutal and primitive witch hunters could practically annihilate the majority of their population, but if they wanted their quasi-medieval stakes to be burned, so be it. At least Nilfgaard and Kovir offer some chance of restoration in the future.
I was part of Witcher fandom long before the games were released. and I do remember people preferring nice, funny, warm over Triss over cold, bitchy, controlling Yennefer. Remember it was late 90s/early 00s Poland, which was far less liberal than it's now, hence people like to throw 'feminist' as an insult. When the first game was released and I saw Triss was one of two LI with Yennefer nowhere, I thought they were doing it to appease all those fans who Yennefer as the 'feminist' and Triss the only one normal out of the bunch of men-hating sorceresses. Those people fail to grasp the nuances of Geralt and Yen's relationship, they conveniently Triss' betrayal, and most importantly, are in denial over the fact Geralt picked Yennefer over Triss.
I get what you are saying, once I saw her in Skellig I have to admit her character grew on me a lot, their banter was very cool. Yes, Yen is rude sometimes but Geralt doesn't back down either. They work very together. And the way they did her quest was very smart. She wanted to see if their feelings were hers, and not created by some magic compulsion. If your Geralt confirm those feelings the scene that plays out is nice and very sweet.
I went with this, then had to backtrack though since I had already said those three words to another person and you know what happens if you do (yeah, I had been spoiled).
I wanted to hit Geralt so much at that point, seeing her so sad was very heart heart-breaking.
Anyway, the point I'd like to convey is that we, the players, want to do things by choice, just like Yen wants. And because how the game handles our choices, Yen goes from the intriguing woman who we broke up with (and definitely wanted to see more of in a second play-through), to one who steals Triss' thunder against our (the players) wishes, the one who gets put in the spotlight when we didn't choose that. And that makes a lot of people like her a lot less. I know it did that to me.
While there are certainly people there who will bitch about Yen non spot, for many, including myself, it is not about that. It is a about having the freedom to pursue either and get a satisfying result on both cases.
No matter what the books said, in W3 Yen is no longer Geralt's only love. That ship has sailed. She can be though, if the player wishes.
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In the 1st game, Triss almost felt like the Yen we have in Witcher 3.
If you wanted someone more nice, cute and sweet - Shani was there for you.
In Witcher 2 we only had a nice, cute and sweet Triss.
Witcher 3 brought back the nice, cute and sweet Triss. Adorable at heart. But who i am to resist Yen? Even if she reads my mind, nitpicks about my clothes, calls me an accesoire to bolster her Beauty?
If you wanted someone more nice, cute and sweet - Shani was there for you.
In Witcher 2 we only had a nice, cute and sweet Triss.
Witcher 3 brought back the nice, cute and sweet Triss. Adorable at heart. But who i am to resist Yen? Even if she reads my mind, nitpicks about my clothes, calls me an accesoire to bolster her Beauty?
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I would like to rephrase that. Geralt and Triss broke up in between TW2 and TW3 because his memory came back. This is even confirmed in the dialogue with Triss. And because of this, CDPR is saying that Yennefer is Geralt's one true love, just like it is in the books, but the players still have the option to go against that and make it so that their Geralt re-acquires the "love" he had for Triss in the first two games.
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I am very satisfied with all the interactions between Geralt and Yen. I think they really captured her spirit and the essence of their relationship.
However, I did not like The Last Wish quest. To me, that was going against the lore to much. The only reason for that quest was to give players a logical reason to dump Yen and be with Triss. CDPR made it seem like that wish was the reason for their love, which it isn't. Their love in the books did not come from The Last Wish, it just merely entwined their destinies. Love came from other things. If their love came from a magic wish then their relationship wouldn't have been so turbulent. They always loved each other, but it was fear of their own feelings and some outer circumstances that always kept them apart. Of course, If the player answers that he loves Yen, it means that the wish wasn't the reason, but If he dumps her it confirms that the love was hokus pokus, I don't like that!
The only thing that bugged me was in Kaer Morhen where she didn't trust Geralt to tell him her plans about Uma, no matter what you say or do.
Then again, same happens with Ciri at the end, and she at least says that she should have trusted you if you gave the right answer.
I didn't like the Last WIsh quests either, the idea that their entire love is based on a magic spell simply never occured to me. As jockmich said, the spell was more about their destinies being merged together, not their love. But then again, I could accept the quest as a gameplay reason to give players an opt out.
Then again, same happens with Ciri at the end, and she at least says that she should have trusted you if you gave the right answer.
I didn't like the Last WIsh quests either, the idea that their entire love is based on a magic spell simply never occured to me. As jockmich said, the spell was more about their destinies being merged together, not their love. But then again, I could accept the quest as a gameplay reason to give players an opt out.
She looks so like Morrigan, it's killing me inside. Best love interests ever!
I liked that, it at least explains the silly flirting between my Geralt (who was romancing Triss at that point) and Yen
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Yeah its because Geralt is the dog in the relationship with Yen
But, she was going to put Uma through the Trial of Grasses. Yen knew that all the witchers would be very against that idea, because they like their secrets and traditions so much. So, I had no problem with this scene.
It definitely was a hard choice she made, sure, but still, she could have told it him in private before dropping the bomb in front of all of them.
For me as a player it just feels like, I have really no choice. I tried to be as supportive as i could but she bascially reacted the same way she would as if I was opposing her at every moment possible.
I understand your point. But, I think the situation required some drastic measures and blunt behavior by Yen. Time was running out after all.
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