Meant to post this earlier, but didn't want to disrupt the flow of ideas. Anyway, this a response to
@Gerald01 about professionalism and such.
I agree with you, but don't forget that the devs are also people, they are not gods, they are not better or worse than us ordinary folk. They also have predilections, passions, just like us. After all, it was their fanboysism (is that a word)in the witcher universe is what gave birth to the witcher 1 in the first place.
As you said though, they are also a professional company. A company that provides a service (entertainment) and we are the costumers. So regardless of their feelings on the matter, we can also reasonably expect their products to "entertain" us. We also have expectations. If they are met or surpassed, then we are more likely to continue buying their products, recommend them through word of mouth and go out of our way to support them in other ways. If the opposite happens, then we react differently.
Now for me personally, and I'm guessing for many others here, the game was very good, a 9/10 really. Yet the minor (I call it minor in relation to all other things that make out the game: graphics, music, gameplay, plot, interface, etc).
The minor issue of Triss overall participation in the game and her interactions, whether romanced or not, is a big deal. I assign it a greater significance than say, horse racing or ten sidequests. So in my mind, after some time away from the game and after all is said and done, I subtract 3 points because of this issue and the final experience that I got out of the game can be graded as 6/10.
Mind you, this is for me , other people might consider this issue less significant, for others it could be a total deal breaker, others might not care about this at all and some haters might even be happy the game turned out this way.
So we as costumers should not make demands, neither should we beg for scraps. We simply give feedback on their product and ask for what we would like or would have liked to see/enjoy. Then, the devs, based on their policies, resources, whatever, either act on it or not, and to the degree they feel necessary or want.
Back to the issues of Triss, the damage is already done. Some people were disappointing because of it, some didn't care. How many in either group? Who knows really? Are the forums representative, again, I'm no expert and don't have an answer.
A simple dialogue or two won't change the experience I had while playing the game originally, that ship had sailed already. It would be akin to "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted"
I've moved on and won't replay the game because of just a small fix. Only the most dedicated fans would go and play a full 100 hour game just two see that. The great majority will probably watch it on youtube or be playing fallout/batman/the new TW that comes tomorrow (I'll be among those) any other at that point and won't care either way.
A major rework might sway me to return, or maybe the expansions will, or perhaps the memory of this frustration will prevent me from playing even then (I bought them already so money is no factor here). Who knows how one might act in the future? What I know is how I acted in the past. I'll explain for example my reactions to Bioware, a company many people are familiar with.
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I'm ashamed to admit it, but I used to pirate games on my highschool years. Mainly because it was what everybody did in my third world country, small town with no game stores, idk. The thing is, after I played BG, I loved it so much I actually travelled to the capital and bought the game, paying, at that point in my life, a significant sum for it. A year later, I even asked my sister who was on her 15yo trip to Disney, to buy me BGII there.
Fast forward a few years or so and I got my degree, a proper job, and was able to pay for my entertainment. So I did so and even bought a few games I had obtained through other means in my younger days.
Let's go back to bioware. Besides Kotor, Jade empire etc, the game I anticipated the most was DAO, the spiritual successor to the kings of my childhood. So I bought that and even shelled a few extra on useless DLCs. I was not disappointed in the slightest and proceeded to play their other games, ME and eventually ME2. ME2 to this day remains one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had, both while playing it and as a memory of having played it. So of course I preordered DAII and like many, was sorely disappointed.
That made me delay my purchase of ME3 by a lot, I think I even bought it because it was on an Origin's discounted price or something. Again I was disappointed, not because of my playthourgh experience, but because of THAT ending and the aftertaste it left (I even played with the extended cut). Suffice to say I stayed away from that franchise like the plague,heard about the Citadel dlc here and won't be buying it though. A few years passed and I bought DAI, on release, maybe because of my fond memory of DAO and their promise to return to their "roots". So I trusted them and was rewarded. It didn't blow my mind like DAO did but it was great.
Sorry for the long post, I'm nearing the end. Let's talk about my experiences with CDPR. I played W1 and loved it. It had its share of issues, like the atrocious loading times, but the game was great. I remember even buying extra memory in order to play it better. When W2 came out, I bought it almost at release or even preordered it. I don't remember now. Needless to say I was mind blown. W2 is still today the best gaming experience in my life and perhaps the game I've replayed the most. So when W3 was coming the hype was really strong in me. I preordered everything I could and would have spent even more if such a thing was possible. I won't reproduce my experiences with the game since I did that many times earlier here, but suffice to say it did left a sour memory and will make me more cautious towards CDPR in the future.
What I'm trying to say is whatever impression a company through their products leaves on us, overall reputation and how much we like them or not, are the main factor when we deal with them. It affects our buying habits and how much more money we are willing to spend on them.
We are all just small a drop in the ocean.
In the end, it is up to the devs to figure out if players sharing these PoVs represent a significant enough portion of that ocean to justify the effort of making these changes or not. Good/bad intentions aside, they are a company that depends on their reputation and their customers to survive and thrive.
and thanks starting the list. 