Doink.
Tonberry's Chef's Knife
Tonberry is a Guardian Force in Final Fantasy VIII. This is the first instance in the series where a tonberry appears as a summon. Though listed near the end of the GF roster, it can be obtained as soon as the player gets the means of manual sea travel. It is acquired from the optional dungeon Centra Ruins that is found on the barren Centra continent.
Tonberry doesn't learn any junction abilities, but learns the rare Evasion and Luck boosting support abilities. It learns support abilities that let the junctioner start battles with full ATB gauge, to gain HP for walking on the field, and to use a recovery item whenever hit by an enemy. Tonberry's unique abilities let the player manipulate opponents' levels to determine what spells they have available to draw, what items they drop and how much Experience Points they yield. It also learns shop abilities that let the player get better deals on buying and selling, to become able to buy rare items, and to go shopping from the menu.
Profile[]
Tonberry looks identical to the enemy Tonberry. It is a diminutive green creature with a brown cloak, a whale-like tail and glowing yellow eyes. It moves bipedal, and carries a lantern and a large knife. Throughout the Final Fantasy series, tonberries usually lurk in abandoned ruins.
Obtained[]
Tonberries appear as random encounters in Centra Ruins. The ruins can be reached when the player gains access to the mobile Balamb Garden. After the time compression the player can still come to the ruins and complete the sidequest.
Centra Ruins.
The Tonberry King appears randomly after at least 20 Tonberries have been killed. A good area for this is the first area of the ruins as Tonberries are the only encounter there. A quick way to kill the Tonberries is to bring Irvine on critical health and use his Armor Shot to kill the Tonberry in one turn; other Limit Breaks can also be used, but Irvine's is faster than most others', as Quistis's Degenerator has no effect on Tonberries. Her Micro Missiles works well, however. The player does not need to kill all Tonberries in one go; they can exit the ruins to save or do other things to return later. Tonberries drop Chef's Knives that refine into AP Ammo.
After enough Tonberries have been killed the King steps in to battle the party (as long as the player does not card the Tonberry in whose battle the King is available to appear). Players may want to face Tonberry King once the party is on average above Lv30 to be able to draw the valuable Full-life from him.
Obtaining Tonberry in the Steam/Remastered version earns the achievement/trophy Tonberry.
Battle[]
Tonberry GF "Chef's Knife" from FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered
Chef's Knife, Tonberry's summon attack, deals non-elemental damage to a random enemy. Tonberry's summon time is 14.0s, which, according to the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, allows the player to boost its damage to around 190% of normal damage using a regular PlayStation controller. Its damage is calculated as follows:[1]
Compatibility[]
The charge time for summoning depends on the compatibility between the character and the GF and the Battle Speed. The greater the compatibility, the less time it takes to summon. Compatibility can be boosted with compatibility boosting items. Most other GFs are boosted by casting magic compatible with the Guardian Force, but for Tonberry it has no effect on its compatibility. It also doesn't have an "opposing" GF whose summoning would deduct from its compatibility the most; summoning other GFs only has a minor effect.
| Compatibility Chart | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summon Effect | Tonberry +20, Every other GF -1.6 | |
| Compatibility Items | Chef's Knife +3.2, LuvLuv G +20.2 | |
The below values are the base compatibility values with all playable characters at the start of the game. Although Seifer cannot junction Tonberry in a normal playthrough, a default compatibility value still exists for him.
| Party member | Compatibility |
|---|---|
| Squall | 540 |
| Quistis | 520 |
| Zell | 500 |
| Selphie | 660 |
| Rinoa | 540 |
| Irvine | 530 |
| Seifer | 200 |
| Edea | 660 |
Stats[]
The following table represents the base stats:
| Level | HP | Attack Power |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 2,596 | 1,492 |
| 40 | 3,394 | 1,830 |
| 50 | 4,200 | 2,167 |
| 60 | 5,014 | 2,505 |
| 70 | 5,836 | 2,842 |
| 80 | 6,666 | 3,180 |
| 90 | 7,504 | 3,517 |
| 100 | 8,350 | 3,855 |
Abilities[]
Abilities learned naturally by Tonberry are listed below:
| Ability | AP | Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|
 Magic
|
(Already learned) | |
| GF
|
(Already learned) | |
| Draw
|
(Already learned) | |
| Item
|
(Already learned) | |
| LV Down
|
(Already learned) | |
| LV Up
|
(Already learned) | |
 Eva+30%
|
(Already learned) | |
| Luck+50%
|
(Already learned) | |
| Initiative
|
160 | None |
| Move-HP Up
|
200 | None |
| Auto-Potion
|
150 | None |
| Ability | AP | Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|
 SumMag+10%
|
40 | None |
| SumMag+20%
|
70 | SumMag+10% |
| SumMag+30%
|
140 | SumMag+20% |
| GFHP+10%
|
40 | None |
| GFHP+20%
|
70 | GFHP+10% |
| GFHP+30%
|
140 | GFHP+20% |
| Boost
|
10 | None |
 Haggle
|
150 | None |
| Sell-High
|
150 | Haggle |
| Familiar
|
150 | None |
| Call Shop
|
200 | Familiar |
Other appearances[]
Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)[]
Tonberry being summoned.
Sneaky beings that slowly creep through the darkness carrying knives and lanterns.
Dissidia Final Fantasy Summon Compendium
Tonberry appears as a summon. When summoned, its Final Fantasy VIII artwork appears and a Tonberry sprite will begin moving towards the opponent's Bravery. Upon reaching the opponent's Bravery, it deals damage to the Bravery equal to the HP the summoner has lost during battle. This summon can be obtained as a Stage Bonus on the Destiny Odyssey V storyline. The Tonberry sprite the summon conjures is based on the Tonberry's sprite from Final Fantasy V.
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy[]
Tonberry returns as a summonstone with the same function as in Dissidia Final Fantasy. It can be purchased from certain Moogle Shops for 30 KP.
Behind the scenes[]
In Final Fantasy XV, the player can obtain the Chef's Knife key item from a tonberry-related sidequest, whose item description includes the line "No human can DOINK with it like a tonberry can." in allusion to the Tonberry GF's summon attack from Final Fantasy VIII.
Gallery[]
