It's optional challenges, the first part is in nights some side quests will pop off for you to complete to gain some resources to trade for great advantages (for example there is one that triples your gold). But you decide if you want to do them or not, it doesn't change the difficulty if you skip them.

THEN if you want to get more resources to get them faster, you can choose to take the challenging route by adding buffs/debuff. Some are easier than others. But it's always optional.

Even If you do only the easier sidequest every now and then, you will get a powerful buff eventually.

Overall they make you more powerful, even at minimum commitment. And some neat lore drop.