Happy New Year! Hope we all have a great year :)

I’m working on my 2025 GOTY blog still (lot going on lately!), but I can do some other stuff: Favorite old games I played for the first time: Gran Turismo 6 and Overblood (lol) Favorite anime: CITY Favorite old anime: Hajime No Ippo S2 & S3 Favorite Song: Links by ClariS Favorite Movie: Zootopia 2

Merry Christmas y’all! Hope every had or is having a good one :)

Wanted to share my blog for the afternoon crowd. I don’t normally ask this, but if you agree Gen AI has no place in art, I hope you’ll reshare this blog. We’re all connected online here and I want the message to reach Falcom! Thank you so much to everyone who has shared it so far! Y’all rock :)

I wrote a new blog, "Dear @falcom.co.jp , Please Stop Using Generative AI In Your Company." This blog is a letter of sorts to one of my favorite developers. I hope the message reaches them and can cross the language barrier so they can course correct immediately. www.justinmikos.com/blog/dear-fa...

You never needed GenAI before. Stop using that.

I’d like to see Falcom stop using Generative AI in their company as I’d hate to see one of my favorite developers go downhill and have some of my favorite games ruined. Spread the word and make a positive difference! famiboards.com/threads/let%...

This happened earlier today and made me laugh. All skill taking out these robots lol.

Feels pretty surreal after 6.5 years I finally finished Iroha Tamaki’s story in Magia Record thanks to the fan translation of Arc 2. I still have some more main story stuff to watch (Puella Historia is the big one), but wow it was amazing. Plan to write a blog later this month when I’m all done.

Youtube trying to piece together some kind of narrative from my weird watch history was very amusing. The bizarre award they gave me was hilarious. Thanks Youtube lol.

I’m looking at eshop sales and oof this a lot of pressure to decide if I want to get Yakuza Kiwami on sale before the sale runs out. As long as I decide before I’m 80 I should be ok.

Been playing Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2 for the past week or so. I flew through the first eight dungeons in 20 hours, but the final dungeon has been significantly tougher and has asked more than everything before it including the first game.

Haven’t posted again in a bit. Been kind of hectic. I have been playing some cool games though. I beat Once Upon A Katamari last week which had some fun new ideas and awesome music. I’d probably recommend the older games first, but I’d definitely recommend it if you like Katamari. Super delightful.

I finished Ghost of Yotei yesterday with the Platinum after 54 hours! It was an absolute blast as it fixed my two big problems with Tsushima: the honor and shame stuff and how it teased supernatural elements. I loved Atsu and her more human revenge story. The combat and more open design was so cool!

I’m 50+ hours into Ghost of Yotei and only have two missions left to finish the story and get the Platinum. Really excited to wrap that up tomorrow. Mainly posting since I wanted to share some screenshots I took today. The game is just hyper gorgeous.

Different topic, playing Ghost of Yotei tonight and was doing one of the wolf team up missions and as I was riding on my horse into the enemy camp following the wolf a bear randomly joined us and we then took out the enemies together. It was awesome lol.

Was at a friend’s birthday party yesterday by the ocean and a family wasn’t watching their dog swim farther out as boats and jet skis rushed by. A stranger went in to rescue the dog, then needed rescuing himself, and thankfully a boat helped. Even wilder, a baptism randomly happened during this lol.

“Hey! Care to trade?”

I played and finished Sly 4 this weekend. It was great fun! Closer to Sly 2 than Sly 3 as the focus moved back toward the big maps and platforming a bit more. I had forgotten I had the game through PS+ so I’m glad I got to play it before my subscription lapsed. Shame the series ended there.

Last night I finished the Trails in the Sky remake after 70 hours of playing. I basically did a full 100% run. It doesn’t replace the original, but it is a terrific, transformative remake of my favorite RPG. Falcom did a tremendous job. The ending got me misty eyed all over again.

I finished the last episode of CITY tonight. It was an absolutely joyous spectacle for the ending. I definitely dug Nichijou more, but the highs of CITY were amazing. I can’t believe how much love went into this show, it is absolutely overflowing with it.

Sad Rock Band 4 is getting delisted. Sorted through all of the available DLC to buy my last songs and download some of the free stuff I missed. End of an era 🥲

Having an awesome time with the new Trails in the Sky remake so far. Aside from some sloppiness in the new script, everything else has been just excellent. Falcom truly captured the energy of the original and the rad new battle system makes exploration so much fun! Entering Bose now 10 hours in.

Last night I finished Breath of Fire IV. It has a really good adventurous spirit with a lot of more fantastical elements which is something I had wanted more from the series. In two of the last dungeons the combat system comes together and is put to the test properly. Great time! Easily my fav BOF!

I finished Lost Soul Aside. It was a blast to play and totally lived up to the rad demo I played at PSX eight years. When you are fighting bosses especially the game rocks. Wish the story was more than just serviceable, but other than that I definitely recommend it to character action game fans.

I posted a new blog today! I wrote about some of the highlights from tackling my PS3 backlog over the past year or so including Atelier Rorona Plus, Metal Gear Solid 2, Gran Turismo 6, and Suikoden II. Check it out :) www.justinmikos.com/blog/highlig...

Had been looking forward to Lost Soul Aside for years ever since I played a rad demo at a PSX. Was a bit iffy on the prologue, but I just cleared Chapter 1 and that was the kind of awesome flashy Devil May Cry-like experience I wanted. Boss fights have been a big highlight and there are many of them

Forgot to tweet yesterday I finished No Sleep For Kaname Date. Had a great time with it. Felt like one of the good anime franchise original movies, but a video game. Lots of fun times with characters I love and the increasingly elaborate escape rooms ruled. The character swapping stuff was so cool.

Yesterday I started a new playthrough and finished OverBlood as part of my PS3 backlog. It’s not a good video game, but everything is working in concert to make it such a silly experience from start to finish from the animations, voice acting / script, over the top deaths, etc. Glad I played it.

I finished Suikoden II! Was surprised the gameplay is so similar to the original for better and for worse, but I really dug the story. It loses momentum after you beat the main villain, but it still has some great scenes afterwards. So maybe didn’t live up to its reputation, but I had a lot of fun!

Kind of spontaneously, I decided to watch K-Pop Demon Hunters tonight. Was a little skeptical that it was more of a musical than I thought walking in, but the heart, style, and songs won me over. Not too surprised I loved it, it’s basically Symphogear crossed with Spiderverse both of which I adore.

Since I finished The Hundred Line I’ve started playing Suikoden II. I’m about four hours in and the four back to back massacres by the main villain is pretty shocking and does a good job of establishing stakes. The game feel in contrast remains cozy which is what I wanted when I decided to start it.

I definitely need to write some extended thoughts down somewhere down the road, but I’m happy to say that while I’m very exhausted / relieved, I’m also fully satisfied that I finished The Hundred Line with all 100 endings after 165+ hours. One of the best games of the year. Truly an achievement.

Had fun playing the Drag X Drive demo with friends tonight. Got a big kick out of high fiving each other and clapping in particular lol.

Haven’t been posting much here, but I’ve been steadily chipping away at The Hundred Line the last few weeks. I just got my 90th ending tonight and wow that was fantastic. I still have the other major ending to go for, but wow, what a journey.

I appreciate the new SNES NSO app lets you do per game button mapping, but I’m baffled it does not let you map to the extra buttons on the controller. I just want to map Run in Super Metroid to ZL like I could back on Wii U! The Wii U legitimately did it better!

Example infinity of AI sucking, but it’s darkly funny the only reason I googled how long is Shadow Labyrinth is because HowLongToBeat actually had no times at all listed still. It literally just made up numbers and put a hyperlink for no reason! 30-35 hours according to Reddit incidentally.

I 100% finished Donkey Kong Bananza last night with all 777 bananas, all fossils/outfits, and all songs. Digging holes is fun from the jump, but the continual surprises throughout and how much it celebrates the series cemented it as my current GOTY frontrunner. Absolutely incredible and joyous game.

Maybe we could find out. Mastercard (US): 1-800-627-8372 Mastercard (Int.): +1-636-722-7111 Visa (US + Can): 1 800 847 2911 Visa (AUS): 1 800 125 440 PayPal: +44-0203-901-7000

I was talking with friends earlier, and it’s obviously because of GTA and no Nintendo Direct yet, but it’s wild how there are basically no “big” video games dated for November yet in July. www.gameinformer.com/2025

Last Five GOTYs: 2020: Final Fantasy VII Remake 2021: Neo The World Ends With You 2022: Xenoblade 3 2023: Trails Into Reverie 2024: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth I think I might like RPGs a lot…

After finishing Mario Kart World’s free roam a few days ago, I’m finally all in on The Hundred Line which I had been saving for the right time. I finished the first 100 days earlier today and I’m deep into my first run of the “real” game. I’ve made three choices so far and I’m very hooked.

Highlight of my day was definitely playing Mario Kart World with twelve of my friends hours ago now. Y’all know who you are :)

I know not many people are likely to run into this, but reflecting on the day I think it’s weird Nintendo launched their cool Game Chat feature that limits rooms to 12 friends (who you must all invite in advance unless you remake the room) alongside a game that supports 24 friends online together.

Haven’t been posting much lately. For fun stuff I’m currently juggling Magia Exedra, Final Fantasy Theathrhythm Final Bar Line, Mario Kart World, and The Hundred Line. Also been playing Mario Kart and Splatoon 3 with friends lately. Lot of variety!

My copy of Mario Kart World got delayed and I didn’t have a ton of time today, but I did really enjoy playing Fast Fusion for the last few hours. It can be tough and punishing, but it feels great when you are living on the edge to go as fast as possible. Definitely recommend it!

Super Metroid is my second favorite game of all time and I always thought the box was good or good enough at least. I never noticed until it was pointed out to me tonight the big green claw was Kraid’s foot with his big belly in the middle there lol. Why is he just floating in midair like that??

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters. www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

Been trying to get a refund the past two weeks for $21 after I saw Best Buy decided to charge me for preorder gifts 4.5 years later on an order nearly six years old all because I decided to cancel my Metroid Prime 4 preorder on the same order. Two trips and multiple phone calls did not help.

This seems fun. Favorite Entries in RPG series / developers: Trails: Sky FC Ys: VIII FF: VI KH: II DQ: XI Mario: Legend of the Seven Stars Xenoblade: 3 FE: Tokyo Mirage Sessions Persona+SMT: P4 Arena Ultimax Tales: Symphonia Gust: Blue Reflection Second Light Zeboyd: This Way Madness Lies