[adz5a]

I (used to) play this game a lot and that is precisely what is interesting in it imo. In the game you can have some influence on events/characters by doing specific actions: choose the warden of your children with care, try to cultivate alliances with your neighbors through alliances (dynastic alliance etc...) but this is inherently a dynamic system in which the sheer number of factor make it really hard to have a total control of "history".

I frequently find myself playing the game at regular speed and watching events unfold in the neighboring kingdoms, plotting how I could take advantage and by the time my plotting is ready (whether it is engineering a casus belli, assassinating somebody or something else) more often than not the target either changed / disappeared or some more interesting event is taking place (crusades !). Also playing in "watch mode" let's you take the time to read the bios of all the "interesting characters" and learning a lot of stuff.