I want to vote excellent but just did good because until I figure out why the AIs are utterly destroying me for score and in general (with eventual war and game over) I'm not sure it really is excellent!

If the AIs don't cheat, don't get a resource advantage on normal, and don't have full algorithms engaged...something does not compute.

Do the AIs freely trade all resources between each other every turn to get some kind of monster research and production boost?

First impressions as well, short and to the point for the moment...

Overall very nice!... I really like the new layout of the interface and most importantly the outpost add another strategic output to the game that I can only imagine how it will be come release.

So indeed, I think this game is showing lots of promise; all I can say is don't lose that momentum

After a first long evening of playing I can only vote excellent. Sure there's still room for improvement (like the bugs Joasoze described) but it's an enormous leap (once again) over the previous beta and really feels like a complete and fun game now.

Another few bugs that are still here:

- arrows occasionally coming from the side of the screen in tactical combat.

- caravans still appearing and doing nothing?

- AI sending lone heroes into enemy territory

- Titan's breath taking a loooooong time for the animation to come up (might not strictly be Titan's breath)

Voted only 'good' 'cause I'm annoyed how you nerfed Resoln/Dirge of Ceresa so hard without addressing their problems (like the shard creatures lacklusterness). Weakest faction by far now. Dirge was broken but the underlying faction itself was very weak and they have nothing going for themselves now. I've so far a lvl 9 mage and magic is so weak compared to physical. My lvl 5 recruited champ has mediocre gear yet still outdmg my Sov and have like 100x durability...

I know beta 4 wasn't supposed to be a balance patch but some balancing was in fact included - yet not the most important (combat) issue (imho). Magic dmg was only worthwhile with the OP fireball (and other similar spells). It' still good vs swats of lowly footmen but it's 100% useless against anything high level, especially with magic resistance. It's used to be viable against most high lvl monsters but now my magic specced Sov is so bad, she's worse than champs with half her lvl.

My first impression? Well, let's see...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38820453/MonsterParty.png

From Tarth's expansion I see that the rather unfun pioneer spam phase of the game is still there, and now I've got a bunch of strong/deadly monsters from the SW who've decided, for whatever reason, to form a conga line through my territory. Even though these problems are older than Beta 4, it's not the best return to the game.

I like some of the changes that I've seen. Essence/enchantments are interesting, as are many of the early tech modifications. I also like how I was able to absorb one of Tarth's annoying Outposts near my second city. However, it seems I'll have to restart the game to investigate many of the features because I have doubts about this once's continued existence after... that.

I'm officially upgrading from my perennial declaration of "Fair" to "Good".

After a couple hours, here are my thoughts:

• Cities feel more meaningful. The fact that I can't just crap out all the things in the queue and then have the city sitting lifeless and worthless by midgame is WONDERFUL.

• The game still looks and feels the way it always has, except it is WAY more polished now. I have preferences about how the UI could be different, but they are preferences and not grievances.

• The magic interface is better. I like the book, I like how enchantments interact with cities. I am still not a huge fan of the overall system of HOW you get magic, but it is better than it has been.

• New tech tree outlines feel better. I haven't gotten super deep into any of them yet, but they seem to make more sense and you appear to get a better group of valuable things at EVERY level, which is nice.

I need more play time to really break down what is happening in the city section of the game, but at first blush, I'm very pleased.

The game, as it stands, might not make it on to my "I'll still be playing this in 2020" list, but it very much has the potential to get there from here.

Enjoying it so far, Path finding is still an issue I do not like going 7 tiles back to the city just so I can move into the empty tile 1 away from my position. If there is an auto path finding setting it needs to Default Off. City spam is still an issue for the AI as they just put them anywhere there is a resource. The pacing seems less like a mad rush to max out your build items in cities , which I like . Interfaces seem much improved and easier to read at a glance, I like the city build screen that provides info like Income, growth, food and such. That way I can really see what I need to build. Also At about 179 turns into the game I don't seem to be getting the Lag as the map builds out and I meet more factions, only ran into one other faction so far.  More testing required on my end though!! I am really liking the "New " on it still  Music, effects, and all !!

Overall very good. Like another poster said, cities are more meaningful now and the game looks more polished.

I still encountered a bug I saw before. An umberdoth attacked me. In the tactical battle, when I clicked on umberdoth's little card (in the initiative - next to attack - ribbon) to see its stats the game gave me the reward for killing it even though the battle is still going on. I saw the same bug in Beta 3 I think. I don't know if it happens every time though.

 Oh and an another bug (more like display glitch). The kennels / stables still show 0 wargs / horses produced. When you hover over it, it says 0.3 wargs though. The display should show 0.3 instead of 0.

I'm not up to trying it yet.

Here are my first impressions after playing two quick games (with the second still "in progress"):

1. City building is MUCH improved! As Derek mentioned in the dev journal posts, there is something to build at every tier. Level one cities are no longer sitting idle in the mid game for me. It definitely feels as if there is always something to do and something to plan for. Also, the pacing feels very good between buildings/units. Please note that I have played only on "fast" pacing speed. I will try "normal" speed, but if it is a significant slowdown, I think that some re-balancing of build times is in order. 
2. Unit building in the early game is viable! Allowing the merchant upgrade to be buildable from level one cities was genius! Now I pepper my early tier armies with militia instead of simply soloing with my sovereign.
3. The city specialization system rocks! Now there are meaningful decisions to be made about cities, and you need a good balance of city types in order to succeed. I find myself trying to plan ahead with respect to my city design. 
4. Each city type is useful. The brilliance in the design is that there are only three choices, and each choice fits an archetype that players might want to focus on. I think it's a great system; exactly what the game needed.
5. Blunt weapons really needed the buff. Now I actually fear blunt weapons on enemy units!
6. Outposts feel more meaningful now. Perhaps a few tweaks here and there, and maybe a bit more "spice" to the offensive and defensive bonuses (ie. spawn defenders in tactical combat rather than a blanket 25% defensive bonus) and they'll be perfect. I like what you did with the outpost graphic (the new graphic shows you which upgrades were purchased) and I also like the fact that outpost upgrades do not cost gildar to create (but rather cost production). I might defend some of my outposts now!
7. Requiring cities to build outpost-claimed resources was a very good idea since this combats pioneer spam a little bit. 
8. The addition of Essence is ok. I am worried that new-comers might have sensory overload with the new resource type, but it seems to work well so far. This new feature was not all that exciting to me at first, but it turns out to be a good addition so far with the addition of new city-enchantments. 

Unfortunately, there are some bugs that have reared their ugly heads:

• Armies run in place on strategic map and you cannot end your turn if they are stuck in the animation.
• Tactical battle slowdown.
• Sometimes a city is unable to construct buildings immediately near its surroundings (the terrain is "flat" but building placement is prohibited )
• There are some cases where the AI can place multiple outposts next to each other (if the player can't do it, the AI shouldn't either)
• Sometimes the AI can build cities on 0 food / 0 production tiles (again, this is a no-no)

On the whole? Excellent progression from beta 3. The city building was my least favorite part of beta 3. Now that choices are meaningful in city design, I like the system much better.

After a few hours, I'm going with good. Here's what's keeping it from excellent:

The minor bugs persist. Most of them have been talked about ad nauseum. I don't want to keep talking about them 

The outposts should change their look based on the upgrades. Or am I just missing something?

I HATE HATE HATE the pioneer spam. Please fix this before release. 

The minor sound effects that have been there since the beginning. Please update these. They remind me of a time when Elemental sucked. 

Another HUGE leap forward. I'm absolutely loving this build so far. The things listed here are really the only things from keeping this from great. I have no doubt that this game with score 90+ metacritic if you can just fix up the loose ends and add more polish. 

I'm so proud to have been a part of this process. Can't wait to see what the final beta brings. I you guys. 

One more good vote.  I would have voted very good if it was there, since I gave a good last time, and this is definitely a step better.  I can't quite give it excellent, since I could see a fair number of bugs and had a crash or two, and to me excellent should only be given if it really rivals all the big 4x games out there. E:FE feels like it should be excellent by the time that the polish is in place, and every new beta is a big leap forward, so it should get there.

Tactical battles seemed like they're the least fun bit at the moment, but autoresolve is much better in taking out trash without wasting mana or getting my units damaged/ killed, so its a lot better.  Some parts of the battles (like fortify - that is great) seem a lot better, but things like the jumpy tactical camera (which prevents me from enjoying close visuals) and the tactics in battles feeling a bit same-y as the game goes on drags it down.

But I did quite enjoy my first game overall; it felt like I had a story to tell about my game when it was done, which to me is a sign of a exciting game and having some good RPG added in.  So, not perfect.  But I would recommend it to friends looking for a 4x game, which is a good sign.

Bugs apparently still there, the list of fixes didn't adress even one of the bugs i hate most.

Aside from that: it feels smoother now. In the previous beta i only managed to survive with tarth and gilden, now ive started a game with pariden and its going well. I like that you can build cities closer to each other now, and monsters attack less. Being destroyed by the bigger Monsters was one of the main reasons i only managed with tarth so well^^

Also like the changes in the techtree, you're getting more new options faster.