Turning down love interests.

[szspagna]

Turning down love interests.

I've found this game has a really perverse knack of guilt tripping you over not romancing all the ladies by showing their pained faces after you decline, only Keira seems to take it in stride.

And that's because only with Keira can you tell her that you're bound to someone else (in my playthrough, Yennefer).

I mean, I was kind of frustrated with the fact that you can't tell Shani you're already with Yennefer to let her down easy.

I chose to leave the party, but O'dimm pulls a Djikstra and tells me to go get something for the girl, so I do because she seemed hurt when I didn't want to stay.


Then my options are to either be rude/cruel in telling her I would kiss any other woman that would come across me, or kiss her. No chance of telling her I'm seeing someone to let her down easy.

And then after that kiss, your choice is either sex or cutting her romantic looks with a "we should get back", no explanations as for why after kissing her you don't take it further.


At least with Triss, even though the game makes you feel bad about not asking her to stay, you know she knows that you're with Yennefer, so she can understand.

But the game seems to want you to go sleeping around with every other woman and be unfaithful as long as it's not Triss (where infidelity is actually punished) because the game emotionally blackmails you with its options and there is really no consequence for bedding anotehr woman that isn't Triss.

It's a pity the game never truly acknowledges the commitment you've made when it comes to any woman besides Triss by letting people know your choice is that you're in a relationship and you're not just being some callous douche bag who leads on women.

 

[Merc616]

I've found this game has a really perverse knack of guilt tripping you over not romancing all the ladies by showing their pained faces after you decline, only Keira seems to take it in stride.

And that's because only with Keira can you tell her that you're bound to someone else (in my playthrough, Yennefer).

I mean, I was kind of frustrated with the fact that you can't tell Shani you're already with Yennefer to let her down easy.

I chose to leave the party, but O'dimm pulls a Djikstra and tells me to go get something for the girl, so I do because she seemed hurt when I didn't want to stay.


Then my options are to either be rude/cruel in telling her I would kiss any other woman that would come across me, or kiss her. No chance of telling her I'm seeing someone to let her down easy.

And then after that kiss, your choice is either sex or cutting her romantic looks with a "we should get back", no explanations as for why after kissing her you don't take it further.


At least with Triss, even though the game makes you feel bad about not asking her to stay, you know she knows that you're with Yennefer, so she can understand.

But the game seems to want you to go sleeping around with every other woman and be unfaithful as long as it's not Triss (where infidelity is actually punished) because the game emotionally blackmails you with its options and there is really no consequence for bedding anotehr woman that isn't Triss.

It's a pity the game never truly acknowledges the commitment you've made when it comes to any woman besides Triss by letting people know your choice is that you're in a relationship and you're not just being some callous douche bag who leads on women.

Some people have tried to downplay the situation but it's a big problem for a lot of us. I pointed it out to @REDDorigen and got a response on this thread. I would like to see something done about this.

 

[sv3672]

I suspect the most that would be done about this is making the romance in Blood and Wine have some consequences, even if only in dialogue. Chances are the existing content in the main game and Hearts of Stone will be left unchanged. And then many players actually want to be able to "cheat" without consequences. Similarly to how it is possible to sleep with anyone in the first two games (sex cards), and no one cares about that.

 

[Merc616]

It wouldn't require an overhaul or the re-hiring of voice actors to fix the Shani situation. If the player has chosen dialogue indicating that Geralt and Shani are friends only they can have a drink to their friendship and the scene can end with a simple hug and goodbye, reusing existing game assets. If the player has chosen the other dialogue options then the scene can continue on as it is.

 

[Fateless0001]

I mean, I was kind of frustrated with the fact that you can't tell Shani you're already with Yennefer to let her down easy.

YES! This part made me want to rip my hair out! I love Shani but I was playing with my Triss save and didn't want it to be altered. I felt so torn, on one hand Shani is amazing but he's made a commitment to the woman he loves and I didn't want to break either ladies hearts. I guess it made for good game tension, but I would've loved a scene where you can sit down with Shani and talk about who you're with. Her reaction and insight could've been invaluable.

 

[Goodmongo]

So if you are a horn dog does that have negative consequences with Triss or Yen? If not then it's just friends with benefits.

 

[sv3672]

So if you are a horn dog does that have negative consequences with Triss or Yen?

The only thing that has negative consequences (the quest "It Takes Three to Tango") is saying "I love you" to the other. Anything else does not matter, like the sex cards in TW1. One can even get the unicorn scene after romancing Triss, and it makes no difference.

 

[Merc616]

It Takes Three to Tango seems like an inadequate attempt but they probably felt that it would be unfair to the player to go all out and suddenly introduce consequences for being unfaithful when there were none in the previous 2 games. It also keeps it simple by not having to check so many possible conditions and have more dialogue to handle the various situations. But for a series that prides itself on decisions and consequences it fails in this area by being inconsistent with everything else.

 

[GhostofAnakin]

This was my major annoyance with the Shani "romance". The game almost seemed to be forcing me to romance her. Every time I chose what looked like the dialogue option to do the whole "we're just friends" thing, it kept putting me in situations where I could flirt with her or make sexual advances.

My Geralt decided to be with Triss. Yet no matter what I did, I ended up kissing Shani! For a game that is huge on giving the player a choice in dialogue, this seemed out of character for CDPR and almost like they were forcing you to romance Shani.

It was the first time I was utterly annoyed after playing through a "dialogue scene".

 

[Jehane]

This was my major annoyance with the Shani "romance". The game almost seemed to be forcing me to romance her. Every time I chose what looked like the dialogue option to do the whole "we're just friends" thing, it kept putting me in situations where I could flirt with her or make sexual advances.

My Geralt decided to be with Triss. Yet no matter what I did, I ended up kissing Shani! For a game that is huge on giving the player a choice in dialogue, this seemed out of character for CDPR and almost like they were forcing you to romance Shani.

It was the first time I was utterly annoyed after playing through a "dialogue scene".

That bugged me about HoS, too. I played HoS after the main story of Wild Hunt; Geralt had romanced Yen and ended up with her. I thought it totally inappropriate that in HoS, he was almost forced unto Shani. I like Shani but I didn't like the forced romance. I missed a dialogue option that enabled me to tell her "Look, Shani, I like you but I'm with Yen now so back off".

 

[Thomas999]

I love the implication that women should feel much better about being rejected just because they're being passed over for someone else. If someone truly adores you and you can't return their affection then that's a really sucky and awkward situation for them no matter how you try to slice it on your end. It's obviously coolest when we can customize our response, but for the purposes of avoiding guilt by not offending the lady I don't really see this as a valid complaint. Rejection is rejection, "letting them down easy" isn't really a thing in intensely personal relationships.

 

[e-ahmet]

Shani was a tryst when Geralt remembered absolutely nothing in the first game. It is also clear that they can't be together due to their goals in life, their professions etc. With Triss however in the second game it kinda was major because Geralt and Triss gave each other roses of remembrance. It became a relationship. That's why only romancing Triss has consequences. Keira is just nobody imo.

 

[VlkStinu]

I think that the game evolves around the idea that Geralt is in love with his woman (either Triss or Yen), but he doesn't say no if there is a chance to have a good one-night stand with another girl. They expect from the majority of players to seek the non-faithful encounters and I am pretty sure that this is indeed what most of the players will go for. And it's only natural and understandable as it's part of the fun. After all, it's just a game. I am with you on this one, as I am faithful in life and I tend to do the same in games - I turned down every woman just because I was faithful to Triss (except for Syanna, damn, I just couldn't resist... And also, since I want to choose Unseen Elder option in the 2nd playthrough, I wouldn't get the chance to romance next time). It just feels good and right. But unfortunately, the game is sometimes a little unfriendly when it comes to faithful romantics like us - Shani romance being the perfect example. For the simple reason that there will be 1 faithful gamer for 100 "carefree relationship" gamers.

However, after reading through the couple of chapters in the books, I started to absorb the book picture of Geralt of Rivia. And he is everything but 100% faithful. He has great amount of encounters while being in love with Yennefer and Yennefer does the same. So the way it works in the games is actually true to the book version of Geralt. I plan to do a complete opposite on my 2nd playthrough and romance Yennefer, while not letting down any other secondary romance along the way. This way it will feel much more true to the books.

 

[VanDerBass]

So if you are a horn dog does that have negative consequences with Triss or Yen? If not then it's just friends with benefits.

I don't think either Triss or Yen would be ok with Geralt bedding Shani.

 

[Razrback16]

Ya, you know this is an interesting thread - I intentionally tweaked my quest orders to avoid the feelings you guys describe by having HoS occur while 'in between' women so that Geralt is technically single at the time, although for people who choose Yen, I don't think there's a way around feeling the way many in this thread describe, but I agree completely that it would be neat to have some conversation options where you can tell a female who's propositioning you that you are involved with someone else so that they don't feel totally rejected and may even respect you for being honest and up front with them.