Deemonef;n10029591 said:
PS: I have to say I really enjoy this conversation. Long time ago that I could talk with someone so much about the Geralt-Saga/Witcher. Was very quite in this forum for a while
It is an almost 3 years old game, so there is no surprise about that. Besides, story related conversations about Witcher are usually not fun, they turn into arguments that endlessly repeat themselves, or being fought by a vocal minority of book fans that will never tolerate the opinions of others. As far as I am concerned, it is bad enough that I no longer want to see more Witcher games in the future.
Geralt and Yennefer both said, that without Ciri they won't be together again, in the 2nd novel, but this is okay for 'em. Ciri was the "catalyst" to finally bring the two together. Yennefer with her wish for a child and Geralt for the wish to be with his loved ones.
While this seems to have turned into an off-topic conversation, the bit I quoted may be relevant to the "complaints" from the previous posts. Because if Ciri really is so important to their relationship, it raises the question what happens when she eventually leaves them. This topic is not explored in detail by the books, the story ends with their "death" and fairy tale afterlife on the island of Avalon. But it becomes relevant in the game. Of course, some will say that it would make no difference, but it is not that uncommon for a real relationship to end when the child grows up and leaves, and it is put to test by other factors at the same time.
And after Geralt found out, she want more than just sex, he ended it, and after this nothing happend between Geralt and Triss again, even if Triss wanted too. I feel sorry for her that she is so in love with himand nothing comes back from him. But this is not Geralt's fault.
The question is, is he just unable to love her (because she is not attractive to him at all), or does he refuse because he knows (rationally) that it would be "wrong", he wants to protect and keep together his family? You said it yourself that he ends it because she wants more than just sex. In the books it may not matter much why he rejects her, but it is important in the context of the game. The prequels to Wild Hunt, notably the prologue of Assassins of Kings where you do not have a choice, kind of already took the latter interpretation. That is, Geralt can actually love Triss under the right circumstances, when it does not conflict with responsibility towards his family, because he cannot have (or broke up with) Yennefer for some reason, and the tight relationship with child Ciri is no longer there.
I am not saying one answer or the other is objectively right to these questions, but to anyone who accepts them at least as possibilities, the choices and their outcomes in the game make sense, they do not only serve the purpose of "revolting fan service".
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Regarding the Church of the Eternal Fire and Radovid, I do not see a real "issue" with their portrayal, religious (and other) bigotry, racism and witch hunts are things that really existed in history, and still do in some forms. The witch hunts also happen from 1272 in the books. It is not a problem that not all characters are morally "grey" or ambiguous, it would be unrealistic if the game artificially made it so. It shows the whole range, people like the Bloody Baron exist as much as Menges and Whoreson Juniors do. Also, not all religion is shown to be bad, Freya's priestesses on Skellige are religious, too, for example, but they were not made "evil".
Radovid's madness may be explained better, but I think there are enough clues to understand it more or less.
Mages not all teleporting out of Novigrad, they are not all experienced or have the talent of Lodge sorceresses. As far as I know, teleportation is one of the more difficult spells to master, it is exhausting to teleport to a great distance, and the unskilled may not always arrive in one piece. Those who just teleport somewhere near Novigrad may end up running into Radovid's soldiers anyway. It is not that easy for all of them to escape without an organized effort. Otherwise, the witch hunts would not have been able to achieve much in the books, either.