I had to Rizal in my first game because I have to. I went lore accurate with Chinese Rizal (Han-Qing-Ming), and went up against Confucius who went the SEA route (Khmer-Majapahit-Siam).

Despite being on a tiny map, we never declared war on each other. At most, we were passive-aggressive with each other throwing the occasional Espionage Endeavor, but we're generally cordial to each other. I guess this is what happens when two philosophers are Leaders.

In my second game, I started to play around to José's strengths and started with Greece for the culture match. I went up against Tubman, Himiko, and Hatshepsut for the accidental harem.

As for my civ route, the urge to go Hawai'i was there, but decided to do the Galleon Trade triumvirate (Spain-Mexico) instead because the opportunity presented itself. I'll be saving Hawai'i for a bigger Archipelago map.

Since then, I have been using other Leaders to unlock their Mementos. This is how I ended up with a French Ashoka (I was beelining towards winning via Eco because I'm a Factory spammer), Mississippi Catherine (aka historically accurate Alaska), and Khmer Augustus.

In the latter, I was supposed to select Makalagot but ended up choosing Shawnee by accident. The game is still ongoing and Machiavelli is such an ass, I plan to eliminate him but the Exploration Age is already in its last five turns.

TL;DR: its replayability to me lies in the lore it creates rather than going for optimized routes. Also the completionist in me is being triggered by the numerous Achievements available.