Ok, so i am going to have to quit my job to keep up with all these posts....yeah yeah jokes aside
I was actually comparing the role Triss plays in the W2 compared to the W3, and three things came to mind that some might be relevant and others not so much (some of which have already been discussed)
The first in how Triss is introduced or shortly after, in the Witcher 2, where Geralt and Triss are getting 'intimate', a guard walks up and destroys the mood (lousy guard), he then proceeds to almost flirt with Triss such as by apologising and almost being rude to Geralt, now in this game where Geralt and Triss walk to the guard at the gate, he tries to flirt with Triss while brushing Geralt off (for the most part) - this doesn't necessarily mean anything but it is similar to the point where i have the feeling CDPR wanted the player (and Geralt) to get defensive if we liked Triss. No one would want another man to flirt with your girl, so a bit of jealously theme going on her (could be that i am crazy and it is purely coincidental)
The second is the 'love or romantic' scenes - apart from the opening one in the Witcher 2, they always have the theme of water and a magical setting such as the elven bath ruins, the lighthouse at night and the quiet fountain behind the Passiflora. Needless to say CDPR put effort into these scenes, but it is too make the player appreciate the undisturbed places where Geralt and Triss can be together in an 'intimate' way - in other words avoiding all the troubles of the world, and i would even argue that these places and moments are Geralt and Triss seeing the opportunity to get away from it all and be closer to what they want (each other).
The third is Triss getting tortured in both games (of course a lot of this depends on the players choice), the main difference in this game is that Triss gets tortured before any 'romantic' moments while in the W2 it was those moments that made you want to burn the whole world down just to find Triss and make sure she is safe, yet the W3 uses those awkward moments to talk about the care and bond these two characters have for each other, and that is what would make any player get sad by hearing Triss get tortured. Seriously though....poor Triss having to go through that. CDPR talked about how sex is the quickest way to show a bond between two characters and that worked for the previous game, in this game, however it is more about the experiences of what they have been through to either make the player not want to put Triss through that or have everyone feel extremely satisfied when Triss killed Menge with that look on her face.