TL;DR
It's not that cRPGs aren't popular. It's that the modern ones mentioned faceplanted right out of the gate. They are really games for hardcore cRPG fans who are willing to put up with it, or people who really, really enjoy jank. I'd say Pathfinder: Kingmaker qualifies for Eurojank. Even if you like cRPGs it can take a lot out of you with how frustrating or bad these games can be and need a lot of time investment just to get the most out of them. Time investment to circumvent the jank in the case of Pathfinder.
True, for the most part, however: I doubt cRPG's have ever been not "janky", but for some reason, players back then where more willing to deal with that... well, either that or the stories/characters where more engrossing then they are today. I know, it's a bit of a veiled "gamers/writers are just not what they used be" argument, but when you compare late 90'ies, early 2000's gaming charts with today's... yea, things have changed.
