Tales of Graces F Remastered Review (Kaldaien)
Game does NOT use Steam Input (the native Valve API that disables Operating System Input APIs), I am so relieved. Tales of Arise uses that API for input and has a dependency on the Steam client for input that has turned out disastrously with the game not being able to get any input for some users, and the anti-consumer asshats at Valve will not allow you to get a refund and purchase a copy from Microsoft that uses XInput and has no dependency on any third-party software for input to work.
That said, the game is based on Unity and has a few common input-related problems.
It does not understand the DualSense Edge USB HID Product ID, so would require Special K to spoof the identify of a controller to use it natively.
It does not support rumble for DualSense controllers, and I don't mean it doesn't support haptics unless you plug it in, I mean despite having a native implementation of DualSense's HID protocol, the option to turn on rumble does nothing -- does not use emulated rumble, does not use haptics, doesn't do something silly with the adaptive triggers to pretend to vibrate, it does NOTHING.
For the above reasons, PlayStation controller users should use Special K. I have updated it to address these problems by preventing the game from seeing the PlayStation controller and instead tricking it into using Windows.Gaming.Input (the API it uses for Xbox). Button icons are also fixed by using Special K.
I may develop some further Quality of Life improvements for the game, but overall aside from the input-related issue mentioned above, the port is solid. It performs well, has options for framerate > 60 (90 and 120), all textures have mipmaps (rofl, I shouldn't have to put this in a review, but it's rare for a JRPG to use mipmapping correctly), includes audio for both English and Japanese and doesn't require you to do anything weird to access that audio.
My only complaint is that the grade shop has been turned into a joke. You start the game immediately with enough grade to purchase everything, and then you never earn grade throughout the game. It takes away the drive you'd otherwise have to earn grade on a playthrough to have enough grade to keep titles and skill progression into the next playthrough. This change to the grade shop not only adds nothing to the game, I'd say it makes the game worse and I wish they hadn't done it :-\
There may be a way to mod the game to give you 0 grade when you start, but I think it's unlikely, I think the entire mechanic was just neutered and can't be brought back.