Jack (Type-0)

Jack is a playable character in Final Fantasy Type-0. He represents the number 11 of Class Zero and wields a katana.

Appearance
Jack has coiffed blond hair and blue eyes. As a member of Class Zero he wears uniform that consists of a black jacket with gold-padded shoulders, white pants, and a red cape. He wears a brown belt around his waist, allowing him to sheath his katana. His summer uniform has a white collared shirt with a black print on the side and black cuffs, a red cape, black trousers, white shoes and black tie, gloves and belt. His dress uniform has a red jacket with black-padded shoulders, white cape and gloves, black trousers with a silver decoration at the bottom, and a black belt.

In the Final Fantasy Type-0 HD exclusive attire Jack has a shiny golden mantle and black and white jacket with red fasteners.

Personality
Rarely seen without a smile, Jack is the class clown. Whatever situation he comes across, he gets through it with a positive attitude, often using the occasional joke or words of encouragement to lighten the mood. His immaturity stems from his belief of it being up to him to cheer up everyone when they encounter the occasional slump. His swordsmanship skills, however, reveal a more stoic nature. After telling a good joke, Seven points out Jack is "always smiling on the outside but never on the inside", leading the latter to conclude someone finally understands him.

Final Fantasy Agito
Jack is a member of Class Twelfth and dons a turquoise mantle.

He can be found in the Terrace during the morning, afternoon and night.

Final Fantasy Type-0
Sorcery Division brought Jack in for training, sensing great potential. After being adopted by the archsorceress Arecia Al-Rashia, Jack studied the way of the warrior in a special center and joined Class Zero, a group of students adopted by Arecia that fights the invasion of the Dominion of Rubrum by the Militesi Empire. As part of the resistance operation "Operation Apostle", he and his comrades seek to become the Agito, a messiah prophesied in ancient mythology to appear at the time of Tempus Finis, an apocalyptic calamity.

Jack is the class jokester and sometimes during lectures snacks away. When the class's commanding officer Kurasame Susaya calls him out on it, Jack offers him a bite. After the liberation mission to Iscah, Jack hangs out with a fellow classmate Cater in Akademeia's Ready Room—the magic academy they attend—where the two are propositioned by Carla trying to offload her energy drinks at 70,000 gil a piece. Jack says he would never pay that price for a simple energy drink, and senses belittlement in Carla's tone when she explains she is always ready to help those who struggle. Afterward Jack comments it is terrifying how two-faced people can be. The cadets are supposed to band together to vanquish the empire, but Jack suspects not everyone is optimally resolute and would spill dominion secrets under duress.

When the cadets are sent to sabotage the imperial magitek armor program they get orders to cease fire due to a newly wrought armistice mid-mission. When they are told those who violate the treaty are executed, Jack calls out in shock. Kurasame travels to the imperial capital as Chancellor Khalia Chival VI's aide and negotiates for the cadets' safety, and afterward explains the situation to them: the empire had proposed peace before the cadets' mission was underway, but they could not contact them in time to halt it. The cadets disagree with the treaty, positing that the empire has no right to ask for peace for being the initial aggressor.

They meet Queen Andoria of the Kingdom of Concordia who explains that peace is the Will of the Crystals, and that the cadets' opposition would only lead to Tempus Finis. Yet, the cadets struggle accepting that what they have been fighting for is against the Crystal's will. Afterward Jack wanders around the Militesi capita of Ingram, amazed the empire could have built such a grand city without magic. Ace explains that the energy that powers the imperial teknology comes from the White Tiger Crystal, and thus is similar to the power of magic granted by the Vermilion Bird Crystal of Rubrum, impressing Jack with his knowledge.

Queen Andoria is assassinated and the cadets blamed for it. The class is ambushed at the Armada Hotel and they fight their way through the city to make their escape while unable to contact Central Command, suggesting they had been left behind on purpose. While the cadets remember meeting a queen, they remember nothing else of her, meaning their memories have been erased by the Crystals, indicating she has truly died. Jack suggests they did assassinate the queen but that memory was erased as well, but Rem doubts it.

They face off against Celestia, Queen Andoria's aide, who, at first, holds them culpable for the regicide, but is convinced otherwise and helps the cadets escape the city to a deserted house in the Old Lorica Region. After an argument over Machina holding the rest of Class Zero culpable for his brother Izana's death, he marches off. Jack is puzzled someone would be so upset over someone they can't even remember, and speculates being the last surviving member of his family after the empire razed his village could be a contributing factor. When Rem strives to work harder to keep up with the others, Jack says she doesn't need to rush things. Machina returns in the morning, and the cadets can move on as Deuce exclaims the COMM is working again and she has reached the dominion.

Kurasame organizes for the cadets to be rescued by airship and back in Akademeia explains there will likely be an investigation, and implies the cadets switched off their COMM to avoid being contacted. The cadets find the accusations ridiculous. Jack is relieved Aria, the class orderly whom they had to leave behind in Ingram, isn't dead as he still remembers her, although he cannot fathom how she has survived.

After the cadets return from a mission to reclaim Eibon, they assemble in the classroom to hear their next orders from Kurasame, but Machina has gone missing. Kurasame explains to the rest the upcoming battle plan against the joint Militesi-Concordian forces, the new King of Concordia has allied with Cid Aulstyne of the empire.

Class Zero is to be sent with the Vermilion Bird Primus l'Cie Lord Zhuyu to fight off the Concordian dragons with an airship fleet, while Kurasame will accompany the rest of Rubrum's legionaries, as well as Akademeia cadets and trainees, to the Militesi border for the Vermilion Bird Secundus l'Cie Lady Caetuna to summon a Verboten Eidolon.

Two l'Cie taking part in Rubrum's military operations simultaneously is unheard of, and Jack is pleased Central Command is finally "taking the situation seriously." However, he scorns everyone being up and arms over "kids being sent off to war" now that the trainees will be deployed, seeing as that the rest of the cadets have been out in the battlefield for weeks.

The cadets help Rubrum secure victory on the eastern front by defeating Shinryu Celestia. The western front is falling back and thus Class Zero is recalled as reinforcements to destroy the empire's crystal jammer allowing for Lady Caetuna to begin summoning Alexander for which Kurasame and the other cadets give their lives to complete the summoning. Alexander obliterates the Militesi forces, and Caetuna enters crystal stasis.

Class Zero visits the numerous new graves in the Akademeia cemetery but cannot comprehend the losses as all memories of Kurasame as well as the others perished have been removed from them. Machina has returned to their ranks and Jack jokes that Machina must be copying him by slacking off as it is not like him to flake out on missions.

Rubrum conquers all of Concordia and as the final showdown against the empire and Cid Aulstyne begins, the class is sent to Ingram to help conquer the imperial capital. As Class Zero is to be deployed Machina disappears again. The others go without him and best the Militesi General Qator Bashtar in his new and improved MA. The empire falls and Orience is united under the Vermilion Bird banner. However, as the cadets return to Akademeia they find its cadets and legionaries slain by the Rursan Reavers and the dominion commanders gone: Tempus Finis has begun.

Other cadets reveal the once code crimson missions, which Class Zero partook, making the remaining cadets turn against them, blaming them for the ensuing apocalypse. Rem's illness reaches its final stages and she collapses. As Queen begins panicking Jack laughs at her distress and tries to cheer everyone up, claiming that drowning in sadness is not going to help, but keeping a positive attitude gives a chance to come up with a plan.

Arecia tells the cadets have lived their lives according to the Will of Crystals recorded in the Akashic Records, but now that the "souls have been released" they can write their own ending, as humans have the power to decide how they live or die, hinting at a vital decision the cadets would soon need to make.

Queen calls everyone to the Altocrystarium room where she tells them about the Judge who resides in the newly appeared sanctuary, Pandæmonium, to make the Final Decision: if there is no Agito, Orience will be destroyed by the Rursus. The cadets plan to infiltrate the sanctuary to speak to the Judge while knowing that without Arecia they will not be revived if they fall in battle, although Jack jokes they were perhaps better off running away and hiding. Rem remains in a coma, but Jack is impressed she had used a positive attitude to cover up her illness.

The cadets are taken to Pandæmonium by Celestia who loses her humanity and turns into Shinryu Celestia for having defied the Focus given to her by the Azure Dragon Crystal. As the cadets head to the top of the temple they are guided by Cid's voice who had entered Pandæmonium ahead of them. The Vermilion Bird Crystal asks them to become l'Cie, and if they accept, the cadets are slain by the Rursus, Arecia deems the experiment yet another failure and Orience and, eventually, Class Zero, are reborn in wait for a new Tempus Finis.

If they choose to remain mortal, the Vermilion Bird brands Rem, still slumped in Arecia's office back in Akademeia, in their stead, and sends her to intercept a White Tiger l'Cie it had sensed Pandæmonium, wanting one of the Vermilion Bird to become Agito. As Rem engages the l'Cie she is impaled by his rapier, and it turns out the l'Cie was Machina who had willingly inherited the White Tiger Secundus l'Cie Qun'mi Tru'e's Focus to become strong enough to protect Rem. As Rem dies, both enter crystal stasis, the cadets mourning the sight when they happen upon their crystal.

The cadets face off against Cid who has become The Rursan Arbiter, possessed by the fal'Cie Gala. He deems Class Zero unfit to be Agito, and thus sets out to destroy Orience. Machina and Rem's crystal bestows the cadets with their power allowing them to prevail, but like the rest of Class Zero, Jack meets his end after they vanquish the Judge. After despairing their impending death, the cadets cheer each other up by talking about all the things they would have done in a war-free Orience.

The mysterious Tiz and Joker, who had been observing the class's progress, ask Arecia to listen to the class's wishes from beyond the grave. By listening to their souls Arecia learns the class loves her, but have made their own decision on how they met their end and do not wish to be revived. Arecia releases Machina and Rem from crystal stasis and instead of restarting the spiral, departs from Orience, abandoning the experiment to find Etro's Gate with the Agito. The Crystals of Orience fade and people are allowed to remember the dead, Machina and Rem holding dear the memories of Class Zero.

In the alternate ending caused by Arecia's removal of the crystals from Orience's history, Jack lives his life at the Peristylium with the rest of the members in Class Zero. Jack plays the drums in a group comprised of himself, Trey, and King. When they decide to skip practice he protests, but eventually goes along with them, saying he doesn't want to be left out.

Gameplay


Jack wields a katana in battle. He boasts the highest Strength but is the slowest-moving character, meaning using him takes precision. However, he attacks quickly. Players must either have Jack sheath his weapon for him to run normally, or they may resort to having Jack dodge—or sidestep—with his weapon to move around the field easily.

His abilities rely on timing, especially for counterattacking. If timed correctly, Jack can make short work of his enemies, as he can kill most foes in one hit. Despite his slowness he is an effective character for attacking and for exploiting Killsights. Jack is poor at dodging, as unlike the other characters who roll, slide, cartwheel and even teleport, he does a prolonged slide forward which impairs the time between evasions.

Initially, Jack's attack only consists of a single downward slash. With upgrade, he can perform two more slashes, the second slash being a horizontal slash, while the final one is another downward slash. Each of the strikes by default have equal critical hit ratio, which is convenient despite Jack's minuscule number of combo hits. By pressing the attack input while tilting the analog stick down Jack performs 'Focus', a passive ability that allows him to boost his normal attack power for his next attack. By default Jack has the least combo hit, only one, before upgrading using the Combo Bonus. Even with the bonus his number of combo hits pars with Cinque's of only three hits per full combo.

Abilities
Jack is the slowest at learning abilities that must be learned one at a time. Players must be willing to train Jack to the fullest to attain his potential.

Jack's Reflex allows him to perform a subtle guard that, with proper timing, allows him to evade the attack, and perform a lunging counterattack. Another ability, which has the same counteroffensive tactic as Reflex, is Tranquility. With proper timing Jack can use it to evade attacks and perform a heavily damaging lightning-fast roundhousing slash as a counterattack. Unlike Reflex, Tranquility has longer recovery time, which may leave Jack vulnerable to ranged attackers.

Jack's Lightning Flash allows him to slash with flurry of combos, significantly faster than his normal attacks. Lightning Flash has a good critical hit rate, but lower than Jack's normal attacks. It is helpful when wanting to stagger enemies.

Piercing Gleam is a Defense-lowering ability. When performing it, Jack lunges forward hitting his target, and his next slash will inflict Defense Break. The chance to inflict Defense Break is high, slightly higher than Cater's Weakening Bullet, despite the sluggishness. It is hard to use because it leaves Jack vulnerable to attacks before his Defense Breaking slash.

Jack can learn Deliverance, a "wait and strike" ability, which emphasizes Killsight exploitation. During locking-on a target, when the ability is performed on a target with Breaksight or Killsight opportunity, Jack will slide towards with high speed and deliver a powerful blow. It helps against evasive and ranged enemies, such as the Evil Eyes, and even the Imperial Troopers.

Jack has the powerful Transience that is risky, as Jack uses his own blood to fuse with his sword, causing his HP to drop to zero. He delivers a mighty slash that damages all enemies in a large area in front of him. It should only be used if Jack is not targeted by other enemies, especially the sneaky ranged attackers. If Jack performs Transience with no enemies within the range or targeted by him, the ability inflicts KO.

Equipment
Jack's exclusive accessory is the Hagakure that increases his Strength by 80, decreases his Defense by 50, and grants Auto Regen status.


 * Katana
 * Kiki-ichimonji
 * Nagamitsu
 * Black Widow
 * Murasame
 * Imperial Blade
 * Dragonslayer
 * Kotetsu
 * Mythril Blade
 * Demonslayer
 * Rapture
 * Conqueror
 * Muramasa
 * Bushido Blade
 * Musunokami
 * Genji Blade (ultimate weapon)

Support Personnel
Some Support Personnel in Final Fantasy Type-0 HD appear as Jack: Kenichi Suzumura (Jack's Japanese VA), Akiko Yamaguchi (VFX Artist), and Taketo Nozawa, Yusuke Naora (Art Director) and Yosuke Matsuda (Head Honcho).

Voice
Jack is voiced by in the Japanese version. He shares his Japanese voice actor with Zack Fair from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Gippal from Final Fantasy X-2, and from the  series.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Twitter Battle
Jack appeared as a playable character in the Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Twitter Battle sponsored by Amazon. His attacks were Katana and Fire.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Jack appears on a few cards in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, featuring him in his CG renders.

Trivia

 * According to the Type-0 Novel, Jack wishes to become a traveling comedian when he leaves Class Zero.
 * Jack's personal accessory, Hagakure, is based on a real life collection of insights and commentary on samurai culture and practices, and practical spiritual guideline for warriors, written by Tokugawa era samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo.