Both are much more different experiences to me than the difference between playing as Genghis Khan or Montezuma in CIV6. You can go for Cultural victories a la Basque on Glory, or science like for instance Poland into Space. It's the way almost all of pdox's games are. Unfortunately or fortunately I guess EU4 is a make your own victory type of game.

Just pointing out it could be even better)

(not hating on EU4, still love playing it. So there are a lot of differences, but some of them don't really matter so much, or become irrelevant eventually. But as OP said, this particular difference falls away past mid-game when you're the biggest fish around.Д¤) The only other difference is if you play colonizer or not. It does feel very different playing in eastern Asia and having to deal with Ming than it does in Europe and having to deal with the million minor nations and the HRE and the nearby Ottomans. native american, etc) that feel different. Honestly, I feel like religions should feel a lot more different than they do, by adding mechanics like Personal unions, not just modifiers.ДЈ) Different regions (playing in east asia vs. legalism for muslims don't actually affect anything or feel interesting or unique. Personal Unions for Christians, harmonizing other religions for confucians. Republics don't play very unique though.Дў) Different religion mechanics that affect how you'll play your nation. Standard monarchy vs horde, for example, will play very different.

I've been playing a lot of Civ6 lately and some civs there feel more unique than nations in EU4 do - like Mali relying on buying things with gold, Hungary relying on city state units, etc.ДЎ) Different government types that affect how you'll play your nation. I started enjoying EU4 a lot more once I started viewing it as glorified Risk.

Eu4 best starting nation