Most main character ‘feeling’ country

I had this memory of an eu4 game where I was playing as Venice going up against the ottomans in the early game, scrambling to take whatever I could from the byzantines before them before preparing for a war against them with a massive alliance network.

The overall feeling of playing this ‘medium’ sized nation fighting against this domineering power was an amazing one, especially when you’re powerful enough to actually play a major role in that war against the big baddie but not strong enough that you could come anywhere close to a victory by yourself. It just feels that you’re the protagonist.

The only other time I had this feeling was a Qing game where I fought Ming in like the early 1450s while they had no mandate and stole a ton of money.

So I was wondering, what about the rest of the player base? What nations do other people play and feel like they’re the centre of attention in there world, because those big David and Goliath situations for me are by far the most interesting.