Well, if you have ever seen the BioWare forums you will know LOTS of people really care about romance in their CRPGs, so I don’t think Larian is misguided in allocating resources into that.
If it is done well then I like romance subplots. Especially in BG2/ToB. My canon character’s romance with Jaheira actually ended up changing the ending I picked. I was all ready for him to ascend to godhood, but in that moment, after all that they had been through together, I felt it was more true to my Bhaalspawn’s nature and character arc for him to choose Jaheira over apotheosis. There was no explicit flag saying Jaheira or godhood, so it felt like a very organic choice, and I enjoyed that.
So if a romance subplot provides ample opportunities to develop the player character, that is great. If it is just some vehicle to be rewarded with awful, awkward sex scene, hard pass from me.
