Safi'jiiva! (New Monster's Name)

[JPM岩]

For those of you who recall, a bit ago, with Stygian Zinogre's announcement, an unnamed monster was revealed. Well, it's armor name was seen in the latest Dev Diary, and the name is Safi'jiiva, meaning it's a relative to Xeno'jiiva. Neat.
Also, Stygian Zinogre's armor is the old High Rank armor designs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O86XqhefnPE Cool video showing off datamined Safi armor set bonus
Sad boy hours: the skill you get on Safi'jiiva weapons isnt the full skill, only one point towards a skill. However, this does mean a bit more freedom with mixsets, but still, no Master's Touch granting weapons :(

[CourtesyFlush09]

Escrito originalmente por lexilogo:

Escrito originalmente por Ban:

Yea if its related to Xeno in any way there is a good chance it end up being a black dragon. Just kinda wish that if it was they would have just kept is as a surprise so when the update drops you see Stygian and the like wait what is that other quest and you encounter him. It would have a way bigger impact if it was a random surprise at least i would be happier that way:cleanseal:

I can definitely understand that perspective but I also understand why Capcom wanted to get a bit of a hype train going here especially with Christmas coming up.

Also, don't count on Safi'Jiiva being in the Stygian Zinogre update, many people have correctly pointed out that the new Appreciation Fest with the whole alien/space theme fits VERY well with Safi'Jiiva's design, and it's hardly like the Stygian Zinogre update would be starved for content without Safi'Jiiva.

With this upcoming alien/space theme, do you think Xeno and Safi are in the same species pool as Gore Mag? In that no one really knows what they are?

[primobrainlet]

I would like to add that safi might not 100% be an adult form. It could very well be a xeno-eater (thing garuga vs kutku), a related species, or, perhaps worst case possible, a direct result of so much fiddling with the everstream. Heck, it could even be something entirely new, with the guild using jiva as a new naming convention for black dragons (this is unlikely imo)

safi means pure, and jiva is life. Pure lifeform as opposed to unknown lifeform is, no matter how it relates to blue boi, not a good sign for our cart cat's shoulders. I am excited

[L:D]

Holy ♥♥♥♥, that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hunt ending. My god, it's probably one the best things i ever saw in a monster hunter game.

[lexilogo]

Escrito originalmente por CourtesyFlush90:

With this upcoming alien/space theme, do you think Xeno and Safi are in the same species pool as Gore Mag? In that no one really knows what they are?

Well, I mean they're definitely both in the realm of "mysterious/elusive Elder Dragon/monster" but I wouldn't say in the same species pool.

As far as we can tell Xeno is one of "The Five" (as Shara Ishvalda also appears to be, though that's debatable) which is its own can of worms, but Gore/Shagaru certainly aren't among those creatures. I've even heard some people suggest Xeno is a literal alien of some form and came to the MH world via meteorite, though I've seen no evidence for that aside from the name and perhaps a very specific interpretation of the Tale of the Five.


I personally think Gore/Shagaru Magala are just extremely rare and destructive Elder Dragons and don't pose quite as many questions as Xeno. There is the question of the ??? classification but I think there's ways to rationalise it especially because that question is only an issue for Gore.

I'll also say that in terms of biology knowledge we definitely know more about the Magalas than Xeno. For the Magalas we have a pretty much complete picture of their lifespan, not so for Xeno. "1. Hibernate for 50 years to ascend into a f**king space dragon, 2. ??? 3. Profit" isn't very comprehensive.


IF Monster Hunter does the unthinkable and jumps into the final frontier, then the Magalas are probably the most likely monster behind Xeno to be retconned into an alien or something, sure. Or from some foreign landmass with more divergent creatures where Magala/Xeno look less out of place.


Here's food for thought, though: Safi'Jiiva might pull a true Gore Magala move and actually be the same Xeno'Jiiva we fought at the end of the original campaign. To be honest, this almost seems more likely to me than the alternative. The Tale of the Five describes individual dragons, not a species, and having multiple canonical Xeno'Jiivas might dampen the mystery a bit for Capcom's liking. I mean, the arena collapsed shortly after we "killed" Xeno, so you could make the argument we never found a body...

Escrito originalmente por Davy Jones:

*not that far above this one*

Minor nitpick but Xeno has apparently been confirmed as an adult in artbooks and stuff. It was "incomplete" but it IS a fully-grown, adult member of its species, it's just trying to become a Super Saiyan and we rudely attacked it while it was doing its 50-year charging up sequence.

I would say that the "pure" very much implies this is a powered-up Xeno'Jiiva. This MIGHT imply something like a Xeno-eater (kind of like how IIRC Shagaru Magalas are known to crush upstart Gore Magalas that might prove as future competition into the dirt, right?) but I personally doubt Capcom would give us that much insight into this creature's ecology.

Using 'jiiva as a new naming convention I definitely disagree with especially because Capcom already had a kind of naming convention in the form of "all black dragons need to sound like Fatalis" that they didn't like and discarded when creating Alatreon.

However, you did make one really excellent speculation in the form of fiddling with the Everstream. Shara Ishvalda is heavily implied to be feeding off the Everstream at its natural end, which implies that once that counterbalance is gone, the Everstream would get a power surge at its source, and the creature at its source was...? Yeah, sounds good to me and it'd give a plot reason WHY we fought Shara at the end of Iceborne in the first place.

[primobrainlet]

Escrito originalmente por lexilogo:

Escrito originalmente por CourtesyFlush90:

With this upcoming alien/space theme, do you think Xeno and Safi are in the same species pool as Gore Mag? In that no one really knows what they are?

Well, I mean they're definitely both in the realm of "mysterious/elusive Elder Dragon/monster" but I wouldn't say in the same species pool.

As far as we can tell Xeno is one of "The Five" (as Shara Ishvalda also appears to be, though that's debatable) which is its own can of worms, but Gore/Shagaru certainly aren't among those creatures. I've even heard some people suggest Xeno is a literal alien of some form and came to the MH world via meteorite, though I've seen no evidence for that aside from the name and perhaps a very specific interpretation of the Tale of the Five.


I personally think Gore/Shagaru Magala are just extremely rare and destructive Elder Dragons and don't pose quite as many questions as Xeno. There is the question of the ??? classification but I think there's ways to rationalise it especially because that question is only an issue for Gore.

I'll also say that in terms of biology knowledge we definitely know more about the Magalas than Xeno. For the Magalas we have a pretty much complete picture of their lifespan, not so for Xeno. "1. Hibernate for 50 years to ascend into a f**king space dragon, 2. ??? 3. Profit" isn't very comprehensive,


IF Monster Hunter does the unthinkable and jumps into the final frontier, then the Magalas are probably the most likely monster behind Xeno to be retconned into an alien or something, sure. Or from some foreign landmass with more divergent creatures where Magala/Xeno look less out of place.


Here's food for thought, though: Safi'Jiiva might pull a true Gore Magala move and actually be the same Xeno'Jiiva we fought at the end of the original campaign. To be honest, this almost seems more likely to me than the alternative. The Tale of the Five describes individual dragons, not a species, and having multiple canonical Xeno'Jiivas might dampen the mystery a bit for Capcom's liking. I mean, the arena collapsed shortly after we "killed" Xeno, so you could make the argument we never found a body...

Not a hard timeline to see for Jeffijiva

-Get bonked by hunters
-Float around the everstream, submerged in power
-Woops woke up a certain rocky boi, getting drained lol
-Rocky boy dies, back to evolving
-Wash up on rotten vale
-Evolve
-Triple cart some more

[JPM岩]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtnfJ3TfSd0

So with what we know about Safi, since hes ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in Iceborne on console:
- He's an elder
- He's an Adult Xeno, after many skin sheds, he's a beautiful shade of red
- Has a baller theme
- Has a unique arena in the GL

[JPM岩]

Apparently, hes also a Siege? There's very little info about him atm

[primobrainlet]

If that aint a black dragon idk what is

also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is that a boost to xeno, this thing looks like pure terror

[JPM岩]

Escrito originalmente por Davy Jones:

If that aint a black dragon idk what is

also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is that a boost to xeno, this thing looks like pure terror

Well, all we know that Xeno/Safi's big quirk is that it absorbs energy, and gives off pheromones to attract elders; Fatalis and Miralis both have recorded wiped out major civilizations effortlessly, can regenerate body parts from their eyes/heart, and can easily destroy the world;
Fatalis in particular is also EXTREMELY intelligent, and is so powerful, it's armor can possess the people who wear it; Miralis is a dumpy walking volcanic eruption/meteor shower that can heat water up to kill all life in the water;
Alatreon is also the third confirmed Black Dragon, being able to change the temperature/weather effortlessly; while quite a few elders can change the weather, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms, etc, Alatreon can change it at will, from freezing blizzards to scalding heatwaves, within seconds of each other
Safi is impressive, but from what we've seen thus far, I dont think it's black dragon material

[primobrainlet]

Escrito originalmente por JPM岩:

Escrito originalmente por Davy Jones:

If that aint a black dragon idk what is

also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is that a boost to xeno, this thing looks like pure terror

Well, all we know that Xeno/Safi's big quirk is that it absorbs energy, and gives off pheromones to attract elders; Fatalis and Miralis both have recorded wiped out major civilizations effortlessly, can regenerate body parts from their eyes/heart, and can easily destroy the world;
Fatalis in particular is also EXTREMELY intelligent, and is so powerful, it's armor can possess the people who wear it; Miralis is a dumpy walking volcanic eruption/meteor shower that can heat water up to kill all life in the water;
Alatreon is also the third confirmed Black Dragon, being able to change the temperature/weather effortlessly; while quite a few elders can change the weather, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms, etc, Alatreon can change it at will, from freezing blizzards to scalding heatwaves, within seconds of each other
Safi is impressive, but from what we've seen thus far, I dont think it's black dragon material

imo it 100% depends on how he controls energy. If thats limited to "beams and changing ecosystems" yes, but if he can mess with any energy, or do that nuke thing at a decent rate, that could be very, very deadly.

And he can regenerate presumably from very little, so long as theres energy to eat. We gotta wait for the armor descriptions I geuss.

[JPM岩]

Escrito originalmente por Davy Jones:

Escrito originalmente por JPM岩:

Well, all we know that Xeno/Safi's big quirk is that it absorbs energy, and gives off pheromones to attract elders; Fatalis and Miralis both have recorded wiped out major civilizations effortlessly, can regenerate body parts from their eyes/heart, and can easily destroy the world;
Fatalis in particular is also EXTREMELY intelligent, and is so powerful, it's armor can possess the people who wear it; Miralis is a dumpy walking volcanic eruption/meteor shower that can heat water up to kill all life in the water;
Alatreon is also the third confirmed Black Dragon, being able to change the temperature/weather effortlessly; while quite a few elders can change the weather, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms, etc, Alatreon can change it at will, from freezing blizzards to scalding heatwaves, within seconds of each other
Safi is impressive, but from what we've seen thus far, I dont think it's black dragon material

imo it 100% depends on how he controls energy. If thats limited to "beams and changing ecosystems" yes, but if he can mess with any energy, or do that nuke thing at a decent rate, that could be very, very deadly.

And he can regenerate presumably from very little, so long as theres energy to eat. We gotta wait for the armor descriptions I geuss.

Well, manipulating energy isn't new, Vaal Hazak does it with effluvium; it uses the Effluvium to absorb energy from anything within the Vale to feed itself; essentially, Safi seems to be a xeno cocoon on the move: absorb energy to feed self; again, to me, is not Black Dragon level; Maybe First Class, but not Black Dragon

[primobrainlet]

Escrito originalmente por JPM岩:

Escrito originalmente por Davy Jones:

imo it 100% depends on how he controls energy. If thats limited to "beams and changing ecosystems" yes, but if he can mess with any energy, or do that nuke thing at a decent rate, that could be very, very deadly.

And he can regenerate presumably from very little, so long as theres energy to eat. We gotta wait for the armor descriptions I geuss.

Well, manipulating energy isn't new, Vaal Hazak does it with effluvium; it uses the Effluvium to absorb energy from anything within the Vale to feed itself; essentially, Safi seems to be a xeno cocoon on the move: absorb energy to feed self; again, to me, is not Black Dragon level; Maybe First Class, but not Black Dragon

Could be, just amped up to 300. Its kinda too early. Mechanically he makes fatalis look like a joke, but I think lore will be the determining factor, as mechanically yian garuga makes fatalis look like a joke...

[JPM岩]

Escrito originalmente por Davy Jones:

Escrito originalmente por JPM岩:

Well, manipulating energy isn't new, Vaal Hazak does it with effluvium; it uses the Effluvium to absorb energy from anything within the Vale to feed itself; essentially, Safi seems to be a xeno cocoon on the move: absorb energy to feed self; again, to me, is not Black Dragon level; Maybe First Class, but not Black Dragon

Could be, just amped up to 300. Its kinda too early. Mechanically he makes fatalis look like a joke, but I think lore will be the determining factor, as mechanically yian garuga makes fatalis look like a joke...

Yeah, but for Fatalis, I just got off of Frontier's GRank Fatty fights (like GRank White Fatty's Vaporization Attack); since Safi is going to be a siege, I feel he's not a black dragon, or else Kulve would be a black dragon; again, First Class? I can see; Black Dragon? Definately not

[lexilogo]

Escrito originalmente por JPM岩:

Yeah, but for Fatalis, I just got off of Frontier's GRank Fatty fights (like GRank White Fatty's Vaporization Attack); since Safi is going to be a siege, I feel he's not a black dragon, or else Kulve would be a black dragon; again, First Class? I can see; Black Dragon? Definately not

Being a siege of some description really does not disqualify you from being a black dragon. IMO a good test of Black Dragon-itude is to ask "If this fought a country, who wins?" and Kulve is too slow and limited in attack potential to fight an entire country and come out on top.


From my understanding black dragon is just a lore title that is essentially "this Elder Dragon could end the world if it wanted to".

And considering that base Xeno'Jiiva was a "OH ♥♥♥♥ OH ♥♥♥♥ DO NOT LET IT LEAVE IT MUST DIE RIGHT NOW OR WE ARE ALL DEAD" scenario I think Safi'Jiiva at least stands a chance of getting a Black Dragon classification.

Or, maybe not, maybe this is starting an new informal classification? The Black Dragons are the creatures to end the world, the Five are the dragons that (allegedly) created it?

However, from what we've seen of Safi'Jiiva:

-It can absorb nutrients from literally the dirt to heal its own wounds (and, one could also argue its power level is CONSTANTLY increasing as a result of that)

-It has an absolutely ludicrous control of energy. Base Xeno could already hypothetically fly above continents firing its LAZOR and bring devastation somewhat comparable to one of the Black Dragons, this thing fires lasers far faster and with way more control. It's easy to imagine it melting castles in seconds

-The main reason most people agreed Xeno wasn't a Black Dragon was because it was such a glasscannon and in a realistic scenario would die before it could do something like destroy a country. Safi's a different story.

-It goes to a more "traditional dragon" look which is pretty much the first sign we might be dealing with a Black Dragon

-It has an IN LORE instakill attack, the Admiral straight up says "I don't think any creature could survive that attack". Now, I think the Black Dragons might be strong enough to escape the classification of "creature" but that's a pretty powerful statement. (I also appreciate the Admiral's ideas aren't gospel, but I think the fact this is Capcom saying "no, the instakill is not just a mechanics thing, that blast is so powerful pretty much nothing can survive it" speaks volumes)

-In traditional "oh my god this thing is so badass" lore, we haven't even seen its final form yet. The fights people have done so far are "recon" missions to practice for the real thing, so we've yet to see it go full space dragon

-We also have to bear in mind that most of the Black Dragon badassery comes from lore and part descriptions, not necessarily something we can peg on the fight itself. I mean, compare Zorah Magdaros and Dire Miralis, which is the Black Dragon? We only really know it's Miralis because of all the flexes about boiling oceans, its heart always beating past death, ecetera.


I DO appreciate the skepticism and admit there is a decent possibility Safi is not actually a Black Dragon. I personally think the signs are there, though.

[primobrainlet]

Also didnt his stream where he was "leaked" have the tag black dragon on it?