It's not really that at all. It's because Yennefer is incredibly stand-offish and abusive (to Geralt, who is openly supportive of her in pretty much every way), to the point where, if you have no context for their relationship outside of the game itself, there's pretty much zero reason why Geralt should EVER love her, unless he's a masochist who enjoys being treated like shit.
Nor does it help that, at no point does Yennefer ever make an effort to really look for or contact Geralt at all across multiple games, in spite of the fact that, if saving Ciri is her only goal, Geralt's help would be absolutely invaluable (and if she even remotely cares about Geralt at all, it would also be moderately considerate to tell him that Ciri was in danger in the first place). The game touches on this, but at no point is Geralt ever really as pissed as he SHOULD be about it.
There are hints that Yennefer actually does care, but they only really happen after you've already committed to her romance, or in post-game DLC. While the romance is still up in the air, she basically gives you zero reason to want to be with her at all (even Keira comes across as more affectionate, even as she's berating or betraying you). And Yennefer also has a tendency to come across as a haughty bitch to pretty much everyone, which gives the impression that she isn't a very good person. She doesn't come across like an otherwise good woman who is simply impatient or distracted because she's worried about Ciri, she comes across like a grade-A turbo c***.
On the flip-side of the coin, Triss comes across as being far more nice in general (both to Geralt AND other characters), and is clearly in love with Geralt (and has been across multiple games). And while Triss can be a bit silly and/or soppy at times, and seems to share the universal snarky sarcasm every sorceress shows in the games, it always tends to come across as much more good-willed than anything Yennefer seems capable of. Even when Yennefer is being affectionate, she's still coldly distant and kind of a bitch.
In a real world context, Triss very much comes across like the kind of person you might actually be happy in a relationship with, while Yennefer mostly comes across like the kind of person you're going to be trapped in a dysfunctional co-dependent relationship with.
Again, based solely on the games, with no outside context, and if Yennefer's relationship to Ciri is removed from the equation, there's almost no reason why anyone sane should ever want to pursue Yennefer over Triss.
Yes, all these things. That's why I was annoyed with the false dilemma between the two. The game essentially forces you to choose Yennifer despite, I would think, most people wanting to actually go with Triss as the more likeable person.
If the game hadn't coerced me into believing Yennefer was the 'true' ending then I would have picked Triss every time. But I'm a sucker for trying to play to canon I suppose.
ParanoidObsessive posted...
If I remember correctly, it's implied in the first game that Triss uses some minor magic to influence Geralt after she realizes he has amnesia, because she's been attracted to him for a while, and realized that she had a chance to maybe hook up with him now that Yennefer was essentially out of the picture. Which a lot of people might understandably be kind of skeeved out by.
I'm not sure I ever actually completed Witcher 1, so I may have missed this. I really only started with Witcher 2. In any case, her magic doesn't appear to work as you're certainly capable of completely ignoring her. So either she chose not to actually use it, or it's just very ineffective. ---
"We're not even close" - Romans building Rome at the end of Day 1