I've spoken a lot about Monster Hunter over the last year, and Safi'jiiva is a monster that has(and will) come up on more than one occasion. Far from the most popular of the series' creatures, it rarely even cracks the top 10 of fan favourite lists. I'm unusual because Safi'jiiva is my favourite monster of the entire series, which probably gives the impression that I'm just being biased here, but there are valid reasons for why I believe he should have been the final boss of Iceborne. The expansion was by no means a peculiarity or uncharacteristic for Capcom. In fact, almost every Monster Hunter game received an expanded or enhanced version with extra content down the line. Rise is no different, with Sunbreak set to launch at the end of this month. Iceborne came with its own storyline and opted to leave the plot of Monster Hunter World behind, which may partially explain why Safi'jiiva remains an optional siege rather than a main hunt, but it still feels like a missed opportunity and a deliberate decision not to give him the role of the expansion's final boss.
Keeper Of The Otherworld
Xeno'jiiva acts as Monster Hunter World's final boss, an alien-esque new-born Elder Dragon that has been incubating below ground for an indeterminate amount of time. In my previous article where I theorise about the future of the series as a whole(which you can find here), my breakdown of the creature is as follows;
"When the protagonists find the point where the Everstream culminates, they discover an enormous cocoon that births a brand-new Elder Dragon; Xeno’jiiva. Whether the cocoon was formed from this bioenergy or if it was there all along and simply absorbed the Everstream for sustenance is unclear, but Xeno’jiiva is a large, otherworldly dragon that must be stopped lest it grow to maturity and do some real damage to the outside world(...)It is unlike any Elder Dragon seen before, and even the other characters in World and Iceborne believe it to be an unparalleled threat that could end up responsible for unimaginable death and destruction if it was allowed to roam free. The Third Fleet Master, in particular, posits that Xeno’jiiva relies on the absorption of energy from other living beings in order to survive, an enormous dragon with the ability to suck the life out of other powerful monsters and empower itself in the process. We see Safi’jiiva doing this with the energy present in the Secluded Valley, where it is discovered, but it seems undeniable that it would also set its sights on large monsters to drain if it went out to explore the world. The Third Fleet Master also suspects that Xeno’jiiva used some kind of pheromone to lure other Elder Dragons to the New World so it could feed on their energy to become stronger, using the environment and the continent’s locales to orchestrate this plan."
World has strong themes of new life and birth, tied into the series' own rejuvenation in the west where it found success on modern consoles and PC for the first time in years. Xeno'jiiva is clearly meant to convey these themes as a completely new species of Elder Dragon that has never been seen before. He is a totally new monster, unheard of before now and potentially capable of widespread ecological destruction. It is not native to any known ecosystem, after all, and there is no frame of reference for what effect it might have on the world outside the Secluded Valley. In theory, its adult form would suit the role of Iceborne's final boss perfectly. As well as keeping with the themes laid out by World, the symmetry of fighting a new-born Elder Dragon in the vanilla game's final moments, and then the adult form at the expansion's end, is just satisfying. It also wouldn't be unlike what Monster Hunter's developers have done before, where a similar situation played out in a previous game's vanilla storyline.
The Magala Family
The plot of Monster Hunter 4 follows a mysterious new monster called Gore Magala that infects humans and other monsters alike with the Frenzy Virus, a disease that often results in death but can be overcome by those strong enough to persevere through it. Monsters capable of doing so become Apex versions of themselves and are much more difficult to take down(on a sidenote, Apex Monsters exist in Monster Hunter Rise, as well, but they are narratively completely different. The use of the term in Rise appears to have been a localisation error). Gore Magala hounds the protagonist of Monster Hunter 4 and their fellow Caravan members until it is eventually repelled and chased away around the game's halfway point. Later on, the main characters discover that Gore has been healing and maturing since its last encounter with the protagonist and its adult form, Shagaru Magala, makes itself known.
Shagaru acts as the vanilla game's final boss, proving that Capcom are no strangers to this idea. They understand the satisfying narrative flow of tangling with a creature that is not yet at its mature stage, only to rediscover it down the line as an adult, much more powerful than before. It makes for a more engaging plot structure, keeping the antagonistic focus on the same creature for the duration of the game. Where Xeno'jiiva and Safi'jiiva differ from the Magalas is that Xeno's mature form does not appear until the expansion. As well as this, Safi'jiiva was not present in the base version of Iceborne when it launched and was actually added in a post-release update. Clearly, he was never intended to be a main part of the expansion. It feels less like a meticulously planned update and more like an oversight, a lapse in judgement. But as I said, World's story got left behind with the expansion, and Iceborne had its own plot in mind.
The Old Everwyrm
Iceborne centres around the investigation of several unexplainable geographical tremors, coupled with an eerie song that can be heard throughout the New World, causing swarms of Legiana to migrate to the Hoarfrost Reach. The Commander eventually mentions something called the Old Everwyrm, an ancient creature from legend that is shortly confirmed to be the cause of these unusual occurrences. The plot culminates in a battle with the legendary beast, Shara Ishvalda, and the protagonist saves the New World from this terrible creature. It is an entertaining and satisfying conclusion to the expansion's main story, but it never quite landed like intended for me. It's supposed to be this magnanimous, explosive final battle for the fate of the New World, and a continuation of World's celebration of the entire series. The problem is, it feels more lacklustre than anything. Over time, my opinion of Shara Ishvalda has softened, but I think I like the idea of the Old Everwyrm more than the actual monster we got.
The concept is fantastic, an ancient being with mysterious abilities causing havoc across the land. There's no denying it sounds great on paper, I'm just not sure it hits home quite like facing Safi'jiiva would have. The idea of Shara Ishvalda doesn't mesh well with the themes of renewed life and birth that I mentioned from vanilla Monster Hunter World. Again, the expansion makes it clear World's story is over and done with, but those same themes would have carried over seamelssly and lent themselves to an eventual showdown with the adult form of World's final boss. Imagine the impact of investigating the aftermath of Safi'jiiva's bioenergy absorption across the ecosystem, barren landscapes and locales devoid of life, before a reveal and subsequent showdown with the Red Dragon. Shara Ishvalda is a very interesting monster with a unique and impressive design, but it's a monster that would have almost been suited to a different game. Final boss material, for sure, but Safi'jiiva outshines him immensely, even as an optional piece of post-game content.
Onwards And Upwards
Capcom might have seriously missed a trick with Safi'jiiva's role in Iceborne, not to mention the fact that his fight is tailored around being a multiplayer experience, but the future of the series as a whole looks incredibly bright. Issues like Iceborne's final boss are far from detrimental to the series, they're more like small, personal gripes as opposed to glaring problems. I spoke in my previous article regarding the future of Monster Hunter about how Capcom seem to be going in two different directions, and Monster Hunter might possibly end up as two separate series' taking place side-by-side one day soon. If that happens, I hope to see Safi'jiiva handled and introduced differently in any games following on from Monster Hunter World. Sunbreak releases on the 30th of this month, and it's looking damn good from what has been revealed in the digital events during the last couple of months. Are you as excited as I am?
Comments