Totally agree with you here...I've recently read very interesting blog about how Triss is better mother to Ciri...the Yen hating is also very strong on the internet ...
I actually read once that Yen hates Ciri and Geralt, so...
I actually like theme regarding Triss and the Lodge in the books. It shows how you can turn one person ideals and turn it against them. Let's be honest here. Triss was a puppet. She only belonged to the Lodge because of her political connections.
This is exactly the evolutional process I talked about, from books to games. It's interesting to see how she goes from a Phillipa's puppet and evious of Geralt's and Yen relationship to a confident and independent sorceress, overall. Unfortunatelly I never went through the feeling that she is always keeping Geralt out of something after that Kovir episode.
In W2 it was really awesome when she finally turn away from the Lodge possibly making very powerful enemies.
That's another reason why I dislike the political ending to her (and maybe Geralt), after all she suffered in the books and in W2 with the Lodge and politics she is so ready to jump into that again after six months. In my opinion, that points that she is very attached to high society and a wealthy life style, it's how her personality is. It's so strong that she forgets that trauma in months for the sake of that opportunity.
I roleplay differently. For instance I tend to roleplay that Geralt always pushes forward but occasionally he takes contract or two just to buy some food etc. I don't use fast travel system either
Well, I also do some ocasional contracts because you know, one needs to eat repair his gear
But just the necessary, right now that I just finished the main campaing I'm doing all the contracts and minor missions in the game, like Geralt says to Emhyr, there is a lot of post war work to do. I'm roleplaying as Geralt is gathering as much as coin he can to buy a nice place to live his life with Yen (which will end up being White Raven). Then I'll start the dlcs.
It's good to see so many people who don't uses fast travel, guess this is forum is filled with hardcore players hehe. I also like the night the darkest possible, makes the game so immersive to me.