One question that arises when making use of such a well defined character is why do it in the first place. Why Yennefer and not some other woman? What does she bring to the table that justifies reviving her? Do you drag her out of retirement (this can be applied to Ciri as well since they do come pretty much as a package) just because she played a significant part in the books, or do you do it because you have something to say about her and you want to take her places? Because while I was entertained by Yennefer in TW3 and I tolerated Ciri, I still find that we could have done without them, or simply had them as archetypes under different names.
For whatever reason (and the reason is probably the fact that I have read the books and can't help but draw parallels) I feel like there wasn't anything said about or added to these characters that absolutely warranted their resurrection. And that is why, looking back, I am not particularly miffed by their absence from the first two games. I am also of the opinion that CDP is somewhat better at forging their own characters rather than adapting pre-existing ones.
I would have preferred them either starting off with the Geralt-Ciri-Yennefer trio in place and using the space of three games to properly build up their characters and interactions (a more conservative, book-friendly narrative), or just leaving Ciri and Yennefer on the side and instead focusing on original characters and developing some of the more obscure names in the books and maybe go a bit wild. I think the games would have worked just fine as an alternative space for an alternative Geralt, without the "baggage" rather sloppily reattached to him at the end of the trilogy.
I agree with that. But I think this only works if you consider that every single player have read the books, which is obviously not the reality. They didn't add anything significant to Yennefer, or Ciri in terms of character development (and as a huge fan of the books in a way I'm kinda glad they didn't actually), but thing is, before adding anything to these characters, you have to explain who they are in the first place. And TW3 was barely enough to even do that...
You're totally right when you say that they should have either worked on the Geralt-Ciri-Yen trio from the start or chosen not to add Yen and Ciri at all. The way it is, it looks like they tried to have it both ways, or wanted to do something and then changed their mind or something....
Let's not forget that writing characters that you "borrowed" from someone else is very very hard if you want to do it right, in my opinion it is harder than to write your own character.
Lol "to make her likeable" Andrej Sapkowski intended from the start to make her not pleasing (for a reader that is), this reason of his was very unique in it's own way which made me like her. In the game when I first saw her (back then TW3 was my first witcher experience) I loved her because of her not cliché way of behaving.
Back on topic, we'll never know how it would have been if Yennefer was in the first two games (it's fun to discuss it ofcourse but yeah). I still think she made a grant entrance in the last game and how they handled her.
I think the reason why many people have a hard time liking Yen is because she is not the typical NPC character you see in video games. Every other NPC in TW3 is, including Triss. They are waiting around for Geralt to decide things. They have their own agenda but they don't seem to be able to do anything about it without Geralt. Even in terms of relationships they are like "Geralt I want to be your friend/lover/whatever", you should decide whether I should be or not.
Yennefer on the other hand.... It's like she doesn't care what the player decide to do. If she has something to do she does it, she doesn't wait for you to help. If she wants to kiss Geralt then she does it, she doesn't need the player's permission. She even makes fun of you like "Geralt come on, who do you think I am? I am not here to give you some "go get me some herbs" quest, I can manage on my own and I have actual business to tend to thank you"
Sapkowski wrote Yennefer as a character who was not there to please the reader. I think CDPR made her a character who is not here to please the player. That is something I had never seen in a video game and that is wonderful.
