I assume that in this game the story told, by your actions and the setting, and the narrator is a big part of the experience.

I'm enjoying the game a lot so far. After about 30h I managed to get my first win on an Endless map after abandoning most games in the classical era before.

Now,
as much as I enjoy the game narrator, I prefer if there would be more of a choice for him.

I also would enjoy less of a messy cultural choice switching eras. Cultures feel weird in this game.

Okay, let's start with that.

I find the different culture choices unwieldy, and not really satisfying. I'm not an aggressive player so I will never enjoy half of the cultures much. I want to mind my own business and farm to get a population boom, so I need to rush to get Harrapans. I have no connection with the Harrapans, though. It's not a choice I made for my story but because of the shiny numbers telling me to do so.

 
Pacifism aside I would love to see the Roman empire nuke their ancient Phoenicians trade partners late game, but most of the time picking a new culture is required to stay ahead of the curve and their culture doesn't really matter, their stats do... Also, torpedoing Columbus' carvels and carpet bombing his expeditionary force as Olmecs when he tries to settle the new world never gets old. But the perspective in this game is that the "new world map" is never us starting there, but being European Expansionist vying for control of said new world. 

Back on topic:
I have zero identity or don't feel any kind of connection with "my people", because they changed every couple of turns and I already played on Endless mode to stretch that out a bit.

Even worse at some point, I had to deal with the AI, who last time I checked were called Mongols, but now they are someone else and that created a weird disconnect.
I imagine the diplomacy of my distant and aloof 10000-year-old god-like emperor-figure: "Who are you again? Aaah, okay, weren't you Mongols last time? What happened? Oh well never mind, wanna trade luxuries?"

I get why Amplitude probably opted for those cultures but I would rather be able to choose between differently aligned narrators and play with a batshit crazy murder-psycho in the background, lamenting I haven't flayed a recently rounded up "usual suspect" and enemy of the state or committed other atrocities or war crimes while all I am trying to do is to have a peaceful chat about a trade alliance with the other cultures.

Amplitude nailed storytelling in Endless Legend with Auriga, which was almost as good as the Planet in Alpha Centauri in the golden days of 4x games.

But for a game that focuses on storytelling and narration, I don't feel connected to my story.
Why did my Romans suddenly turn into the Khmer? Because an industry bonus on makers' quarter is nice I guess.