As regards discussing people’s tone: I don’t think anyone is saying you can’t criticize the game. I do think that other discussion threads about the game (like the ones just linked above) are a better place for critiques than this thread to celebrate the award nomination.
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Can you point me to the source where you found that information? Coz if that’s the case, yikes.
Lots of good Cog games that came out this year, that unfortunately wasnt eligible for that awards. I hope that isnt the case next year.
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I think, given the perceived quality of the book, it’s pretty fair to question the how and why behind the nomination given other COG offerings that did not receive a nomination. We’ve since found out that it’s likely because they have name recognition outside of IF circles which, to some I suspect, is not a ringing endorsement of the organization or it’s nomination process which, I think, are legitimate criticisms of the nomination along with quality concerns of the work in question.
I would think a thread about the nomination would be an appropriate place for many of the above concerns.
I guess slow mode will help slow those concerns from being expressed or replies being made to any points though.
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There are around 2300 SFWA members, mostly published authors/artists, with some editors and other industry professionals. The nomination process is that any of us can send in a slate of up to five works in each award category that we think should be up for consideration, our votes get aggregated, and the five works with the most votes are the nominees. I’ve got no idea how many members send in a ballot. I always do, and clearly a lot of other people do too, given that the nominations rarely reflect my preferences. 
Anyone speculating about “backdoors,” as some folks were upthread, is groundlessly imagining a much more controlled process with fewer people involved, and perhaps one more susceptible to publisher influence. The Nebulas reflect what a majority of authors like to read/watch/play.
And maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that a couple of thousand authors voted for a game written with clear literary aspirations, by an author whose other work they clearly also like. (Again, I haven’t read Sires yet, so I’m not commenting on how well it fulfilled those aspirations. But have a look at the novels nominated in the last couple of decades; I’ll bet that Sires is more in their spirit than, say, Fernweh.)
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Yes, agreed. I understand why many people on the forum didn’t like Sins of the Sires. That is also…probably what made it a strong candidate for a Nebula.
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This is decidedly not the place to discuss the perceived quality of Sins or speculate on how the nomination process might have been “corrupted.” This is a thread to congratulate Natalia on the award, discuss the other nominees, and/or otherwise celebrate this achievement.
If you want to discuss the qualities of the game, start another thread.
I will be deleting any further comments that cross this line, and I’m strongly considering deleting the prior ones as well.
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I’m actually curious about a couple of the other nominees. Has anyone here checked out Pentiment or Stray? A medieval murder mystery sounds right up my alley, and Stray sounds weird but omg kitteh! and also I hear it has a lot of popularity among the kind of people who don’t usually get excited about video games, which are often exactly the kind of games I get excited about.
Are they worth getting? And what’s the gameplay like? Are they more like visual novels or point-and-click adventures? How do the controls work if you play on a desktop PC?
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From what I played of it so far Pentiment is really great
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Everyone I know who’s tried Stray has loved it, if that helps any. I’m curious about Pentiment myself. This generation of games has mostly disappointed me, as well as the last (I haven’t really played anything and enjoyed it since Edith Finch for the last two generations of consoles.)
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I’ve played both. Stray is amazing, 10/10 would recommend. Pentiment is a solid game, definitely unique and creative and would recommend if you look at the description and think its something you’d be into. I personally didn’t care for Pentiment, SOLELY because its not really my genre. I think its a good game, it just wasn’t for me.
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I got tagged in this thread and thought I would share my thoughts because of it ( thanks @PotatoeChisps):
I feel honored that my thoughts on the game were written eloquently enough to be used as a game review/criticism example, heh. =)
Now, Sins of the Sires remains my least liked game from the Vampire: The Masquerade lineup, but I understand why it was chosen for an award as a finalist.
I never cared much for awards, I feel they mostly reward popularity or playing things safe, and my interests have always more aligned with niche experiences as a whole. (As someone currently being the writer for an indie otome Visual Novel…that’s almost as niche as it gets.) They do however serve as a great gateway to finding genres/mediums that, at large, might interest you.
And while I believe SotS to be quite a weak game when it comes to its plot, it has a really nice writing style that makes digesting it easy, comes from a known IP and does not require you to know the IP first.
If one were to ask me which VTM game from the CoG lineup to consume first, with no prior knowledge of the world and lore, I would point them to SotS. The game works delightfully well as an appetiser and does not punish you heavily for understanding things wrong.
This makes it a quick pickup similar to how Stray is just ‘be cat, do things’ boiled down. SotS is 'be Vampire, do things" and it does that really well.
It is just not a game that will stay in my mind the way other, more plot heavy games that force you to decide carefully do.
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Sorry Cirro, didn’t know it would tag you 
I don’t really have much else to say that I haven’t said on the other threads so thank you for giving your informative thoughts on SOTS. I can understand some of the sentiments you elaborated like the writing being pretty digestible. Thanks for coming back and I’ll remember about the tag for next time 
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I haven’t played Pentiment yet but I’ve heard only good things about it, especially from writing- and history-nerd friends. I’m confident that you’d have a great time with it! It’s visual novel-ish in gameplay.
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Awesome! It’s a bit pricey, but maybe I can grab it during one of this year’s Steam sales.
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If you arent sold with Pentiment just know that the lead designer is one of the people responsible for Fallout New Vegas
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Oh no, I thought it was nice that my thoughts were read and mentioned! No worries! 
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How about the non-game categories?
I have copies of Babel and Nettle & Bone I haven’t had a chance to read yet … which didn’t stop me from ordering Legends & Lattes just now, and preordering the sequel. Seriously, how could I not?
Is there anything else on there I’d be missing out if I never had a chance to read (or watch)?
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Everything Everywhere All At Once is a delight, as is Our Flag Means Death (though scifi/fantasy it is not - it’s comedy alternate history). As usual I have many of these on my to-read-and-watch list - Spear by Nicola Griffith is bound to be fantastic (I loved Hild and her other books), Nope, and The Scapegracers by HA Clarke (to which The Scratch Daughters is the sequel) are very much on my radar.
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Everything Everywhere All at Once was actually on my radar already, I just forgot the title. I hadn’t heard of Our Flag Means Death, but I’ll have to check it out.
Has anyone here seen Nope already? I know what it’s about and I kind of want to see it, but I’m still on the fence.
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Sins of the Sires was the best VtM released by CoG. None of the others captured the shear bleakness of the setting. And the quality of the writing is right at the top of what has been put out by the company. Probably the worst I have felt after reading a CoG game, well done and congrats to the author for the nomination.
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