A bit hesitant about the extreme asymmetry of Endless Space 2 - how does the game feel?

On one hand, this game does appeal to me. But the idea of, for example, being a warlike faction and then being completely blindsided because someone else won, in a pacifist play style, simply by completing the faction quest, is a huge turn-off to me. It sounds like there is potential for eight players (or however many) to be playing eight separate solo games that all happen to be taking place on the same map. How true is this in the end?