What the people like, I mean... it's their personal preference. And the golden rule of personal preference is that one does not simply discuss personal preference... ever. If that's what people like then that's what they like.

Though conducting research was unnecessary when the actual statistics reveal most people prefer playing what they can relate to rather than exploring other races and cultures. So naturally most will play within their comfort zone and pick romances based on companions which fit their comfort zone;

  • in this case the sculpted by the Gods beautifully enchanting and petite Shadowheart
  • the charming and cultured Gale
  • or the tall f***boy Astarion

Larian even jokingly made a community post years ago about how they created a rich character creation system and expected to see some interesting characters, yet it's mostly used to create... a human.

[Linked Image from clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com]

Ultimately your ranting frustration is understandable (I guess) and social media ruined society a long time ago, but in my opinion you're taking the memey community way too seriously and by doing so end up overgeneralizing and over-assuming stuff.

Personally I have 770 hours in the game over multiple playthroughs, every playthrough I 100% explore every single inch of the place and read every piece of literature to uncover all the lore & secrets, yet I never made a single step into ACT 3 itself because I just don't feel like committing myself to ACT 3's experience until it gets better. And I exclusively play the "ugly races" (Tiefling/Githyanki/Drow) and romance the "ugly companions" Lae'zel or Karlach grin

As for your point about Minthara;
missing out on her story has nothing to do with people being lazy, shallow or being unable to make complex decisions. Larian simply ruined Minthara because they locked her behind an exclusively underdeveloped and rushed choice which does not bring anything new to the story, yet takes away a whole lot.

They simply slapped on that choice for "her side" and made zero further effort to make it better, which has been pointed out for years and years by the community. There is simply no evil playthrough in this game, there is just the most dumbest as hell choice possible in which the player goes against any reasonable logic to justify slaughtering over 55 NPCs, losing 4 companions and cutting off all their stories just to explore the story of one companion. Afterwards the story plays out exactly the same and you even still lose her until ACT 2... like what?!

It doesn't feel satisfying nor rewarding nor meaningful. That is pure Larian's fault because if I have to slaughter 60 NPCs to access Minthara and lose 4 companions while doing so, I expect the content from her side to be equally interesting and to drastically change in order to immerse myself into the realization that I'm a bad person now. For example if I side with Minthara, I cannot access Last Light Inn. If I don't side with Minthara, I can't access Moonrise.

Minthara's side is utterly underdeveloped, rushed and ultimately has very little effect on the story. It's why she's such an under-experienced character by many because people want to experience all of the story, not experience less of it... which is why people are now advocating to simply stop this Good vs Evil BS exclusivity choice and make her available in ACT 2 no matter what. Minthara is a wonderfully written character, but the cost of obtaining her is simply not justified whatsoever which is why she's so under-experienced.

Same thing would've happened to Karlach had she been locked behind something specific.

Nobody actually loves Karlach because of her story content, but because she is an easily recruited companion with a bigger than life bubbly personality and romance. That's her only saving grace because her story content is an absolute non-existent joke that's just about gathering one Infernal Iron piece per ACT so she can be touched. And if you're not trying to even romance her, then it's even more pitiful.

Just look at how much actual lore is dumped onto us by Shadowheart or Lae'zel both through the journal and through quests, events, interactions... and then compare it to Karlach who just wants to be touched, with just two puny journal entries.