I was looking back at the scenes with Triss during Novigrad, and despite the lack of content, i have to say that CDPR nailed the bit about them still having feelings for each other. I mean the first time you meet Triss and the almost shocked but happy look on her face when she says "Geralt" and he replies "Hey Triss", really showed the expressions in great detail, and later on when she asks how Yen is doing and then proceeds on to say "that's good" and "nevermind, i got my answer" - it is almost a representation of how much Triss is trying to move on but having Geralt back makes it hard to do and yet we the player can tell she is still holding a candle for him.
In fact almost every interaction with Triss during her quests were written superbly, it is almost a constant struggle for those two characters to move on and the game does try to push the player into enjoying those moments. I remember the Menge quest where Geralt thanks her for doing this and she says anyone could of done it only for him to reply with "no, not anyone", it was one of those moments where you could tell that the developers did put effort into this dialogue and that is why i don't believe her romance arc was an afterthought. Then of course outside of Novigrad in regards to giving back her earrings and the scene at the fountain were other examples of the thought put into it. We love Triss a lot because her relationship with Geralt is one of those things that hint at Geralt actually willing to have a life with her and that is rewarding for us players too (not just Geralt).
CDPR in my opinion are experts at making major characters feel fleshed out, and like i said before the facial expressions that Triss and Geralt showed to each other are so great that i struggle to think of any other game series that can match it (also the same can be said for Yen and Geralt, that was also done very well), i mean maybe Morrigan from Dragon Age comes to mind in terms of a relationship evolving, and while there is a lack of interacting with Triss (and some plot holes), what they did create especially in Novigrad was done so well that i think it is easy to fall in love with these particular characters. I could almost argue that the game makes it easy to romance both Yen and Triss because they both are important to Geralt, (and makes it hard to reject them due to the emotional scenes) and effectively that means to us as well (of course you end up alone if you do that).
I have to say that yeah the game pushes the player to letting Triss go, but i also see it as a way of saying 'if you want to be with Triss, you have to work for it' and that makes it all the more rewarding. However it is not all that rewarding because they lack of consistency with that choice really hurts the game and our playthrough and that is such a let down especially after those incredible dialogue, scenes and hints between the two. So what is there is great, but what wasn't there makes it feel all the less meaningful.
---------- Updated at 10:33 AM ----------
keep the discussion alive, Triss needs some love.
Here are a couple wallpapers i made of Triss in case anyone was interested:
Awesome screenshots, i am happy it has Triss from the Witcher 2, that was one game where she got plenty of love
