Having played Witcher 1 & 2, I tried getting into the books, but the writing style in which the author had chosen to portray the world (a sort of laborious 'ye olde englishe' medieval thing) really put me off, and I couldn't really get into it. At first I thought it was a weird decision by the translator, but then I learnt from a Polish friend that no, even the original is in the same style.

indeed, i've been playing it on and off (with a few 1/3way through restarts) since launch day.
i like triss. shes geralt's ride or die chick throughout the game series. i just cannot stand the voice actress. shrill and nasaly.

that said, i went with yen, because even if you decide you want to go with triss, some of the dialogue options throughout the game indicate that geralt truely pines for yen.

I went with Triss because I think she's the least manipulative witch in his life. Sure, she tricked him into a relationship when he had amnesia, but only because she was madly in love with him. Heck, I'd do the same thing if I had the chance in an equivalent situation.

That's only true because the books also indicate Yen is Geralt's one true love, although they argue a lot, had constant break-ups and get back togethers, and she is also rather mean and unappreciative of him - he is to her, after all "just a witcher", no need to involve him into any of her scheming, but just use him to get things done. Sorry, but I just don't believe Geralt would stand up to that in the long run, nor that he would give up his life as a witcher to stay in deserted hut away from it all with someone like that.

Lore actually says Triss was first fascinated by the bond between Geralt and Yen, never being able to understand why they always gravitated back to each other, eventually falling in love with Geralt for who he was, as she uncovered more about him. I'm with Triss on this one - never could understand how Geralt would be madly in love with an ever moody sorceress who constantly downplays anything he says or does, never tells him the truth and constantly bosses everyone around like she owns the world.

And here I'd like to quote an unnamed philosopher on Reddit, whose words shall never be forgotten: "I'd take a water hag over Yen."

I think it's because she's the opposite of what he's seen his whole life, right? He's an old man, even if he's still in fighting prime, and he's spent decades watching the magic die out of a world that he was made to be a servant in. He constantly has to deal with stupid, small-minded folk who fear him and try to shortchange him on the work he does for them - work they couldn't do themselves only because they've lived a life of not trying. His heritage is a crumbling past.

Then there's Yennifer. She's stronger than he is in many ways, just as willful. She has stuff going on in her life because she makes it happen. She doesn't care he's a Witcher; she's made of a deeper magic than even that. Old enough to share experiences like he's had, but the very opposite of the dying magic in the world. She doesn't give him less than he earns, but works him hard to earn what she gives - respect, attention, whatever. She's a complex challenge in a world that isn't complex or particularly challenging; just dangerous and unrewarding. And they both love Ciri, without reservation, which only gives them something more to share with each other.

Maybe I've gone and read too much into it, but Geralt and Yen, in the books, are ice and fire; they're "opposites attract" except instead of going full amateur and making them total opposites, they're just independent enough that like braided cord, they're sometimes side by side, and then sometimes heading off in opposite directions again. In the game, there's no competition - Yen is underdeveloped and mostly just an unappreciative harpy, while Triss is fleshed out across three installations and clearly is way less shitty at expressing her care and desire. I think taking just the games as standalone stories, it's got to be Triss all day, every day. But I certainly see why in the books Yennifer is Geralt's destiny.

Thanks for that - it's not a bad insight. Perhaps it is just that, Geralt enjoys a "fiery" relationship and doesn't shun away from arguments - the fact that he lives more than regular humans might give him increased tolerance to that kind of thing, even later on, in his older years :P.

The fact about Ciri is very true, and I felt that even in the game it's the only thing that makes sense to draw them together. Note that Triss is also close to Ciri, who regards her as a sort of a chummy older sister (+1 for Triss, -1 for Yen, the overbearing mother type :P).

Jokes aside, I have yet to read the books though I have them all - at least everything that's currently been translated into English. I'll get to reading them one day - let's see if that somehow changes my opinion ;).

I never really liked Triss, and I was pretty pissed the second game rolls as if I did, even though I clearly chose Shani over her in the first game. It only made me disslike Triss even more :P

It's because of the last wish. The djinn's magic is keeping them together. I chose to leave Yen when the new djinn gave me the chance.

I've only played the first game so far but I liked Shani better too, but yeah, it seems they want us to choose Triss.

Except that only works if you choose to leave Yen. If you choose differently, the wish clearly had no effect on your feelings.
Judging by the books, the wish didn't necessarily have anything to do with their feelings for each other (at least the way I understood it).

One of these days, I too will play The Witcher series. After all, they were the reason I originally signed in to GOG.com, they've just been waiting in my backlog.

Ok ok I have shortly tried out each three games, just to see how well they run on my PC.

Exactly this. Their relationship is off/on over many years, and Yen ultimately leaves her real love for Geralt. The wish has nothing to do with their love/hate relationship.

And who wouldn't take the chance to leave an emotionally abusive relationship. I'd have killed her if the game let me.

That may be true as an artifice in the game to give you a choice between staying with Yen or not, but as others have also mentioned, it doesn't explain what goes on in the books. They have an on and off relationship way before Geralt gets his famous last wish.

I'm not sure what Ciri would have said about that :), but I certainly wouldn't have talked to her unless she apologized at some points in the game... like that time at Kaer Morhen when she teleported Geralt over a lake just to end an argument :|. Yeah, sure, that's gotta be true love, right?