I had heard of this game somewhat in the past, but I never looked too deeply. I saw the early screenshots (including the one of a lame looking castle that really turned me off at the time)
So i'm bored and notice it on impulse and see if the beta is still going on... and lo and behold the game is coming out in less than four days. But before I noticed the release date... earlier this week I busted out Master of Magic through dosbox, I played most of a game... I quickly found myself wanting to play something more recent.... so then I busted out my old dust covered jewel case of Age of Wonders:Shadow Magic (Best xmas present EVER, thanks uncle!) sometime around wednesday, and I beat a game of that just yesterday. Still, I wish it were more up to date with more spells (a la dominions). So here I am now... just finished looking over the Game Play Examples from 1-4... and i'm just thinking 'oh my god, I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!'
Talk about a pretty funny coincidence for a chain of events... I don't think I bought any of those classic 4x fantasy games on release, I was too young. I wish there was this type of game play example before now. I'm wicked pumped about this game. Had I seen this a month ago I probably would have pre-ordered then, unfortunately i'll have to wait till Tuesday like the rest of the new swarm on the boards now 
Just looking at the elemental for dummies thread is making me weep with impatience. Huge sovereign customization options... a dynasty system complete with playable champions including your guy's spouse... and kids should your empire last that long. Unit design that is more in depth than i've ever seen for a 4x fantasy game. Not to mention ten selectable races... Somewhere its said that big Space Empires 4 fans would get bored of this... Now i'll give SEIV/V credit for having wayyy too many options, but the options available in this game seem pretty in depth as it is.
For reference, the huge turnoff screen was this: https://store.stardock.com/images/product_gfx/Empire_City_Select_1280.jpg (boring castle with boring land, granted this is from a much earlier part of the beta)
whereas the newer screens such as this make this game look beautiful 
https://store.stardock.com/images/product_gfx/elem_ss1_1.jpg (omfg big evil wall of death with a legion of deathtroopers that are going to crack open your skull and eat your brains! Don't get me started on the ogres...)
So i'm sitting listening to another games' music play in the background... and wishing this game was out already. lol. Just can't believe how awesome this game is looking now compared to just a few months ago. If Stardock does even half as good a job as they did with GalCiv2 i'm positive this will be absolutely amazing by the time the last expansion for this game is done. Looking at the content that has been revealed to me at this point - it may well exceed any expectations I had for the game. Heres to hoping the Single Player is very strong on release
PS: Sorry for the big wall of text, I'm just inundated with euphoria. Stardock doesn't tend to let me down once that euphoria ends either 
PPS: Bonus edit followup. This game has a 10$ off preorder credit at amazon.. great if you plan on ordering another game any time soon and don't mind having it shipped to you. Granted you won't get to start the download the second its released, but its a tuesday release anyway - its worth it to sleep. Plus release day delivery tends to get games to my house by noon anyhow (go go student free year of prime!) Even works on the collector's edition. http://www.amazon.com/Elemental-Standard-MBX-Pc/dp/B003BIW7FO/
