Destroying the rebels does sound rather soul-destroying. I hated the "conquer the map" victory conditions of STW and MTW. The Glorious Achievements were much better, as are the BI faction specific goals.

EB also requires the Romans to wipe out very many factions, but not the rebels thank goodness and no more than they really did, IIRC. Such grandiose victory conditions make the game feel rather epic.

By contrast, holding 50 provinces in RTR is rather anti-climatic - given the greater number of provinces on their map, I sometimes feel I am just getting going when I've won the game. Playing as Seleucia, in particular, scarcely seems bothering with, it's already got so many provinces. I guess that will change with 7.0.