There's a frsutrating trend I find with people looking down on romance like it's inerior or inherently low brow, when it's really not.
I think this mostly stems from how it's often depicted.
A lot of the time, romance in a game is some very underdeveloped aspect that feels like it was added in just for the sake of existing, with at best it being there to show off some risque scene for marketing (Albeit not particularly risque due to nudity being an instant 18+ rating and thus being avoided to generate more game sales at a lower 12+ or 15+ rating). Rather than it being an actually meaningful way to interact with NPC's.
It doesn't help when much of the industries "Romance" is very sex focused too. Again, lacking in meaningful interactions with NPC's.
This state of romance will get people jaded and prejudiced against their very notion. With largely, good reason given the lack of positive examples of romance...
So we get to a point where a game is derided because of its inclusion of romance, or praised for its lack of romance (I know some people were glad that Avowed isn't having any romance content).
Meanwhile, it's not as if a game is inherently better without (Even the current trend of poorly implemented) romances. I played The Outer Worlds which "Features" no romances and you know what my experience with the game was? Companions felt just as flat and lifeless as ever. Since it wasn't romances that made companions 2 dimensional and lame, it was that socialization as a whole was not well developed.
Romance is only part of a greater whole, which is the overal social interaction aspect. With better socialization, comes the opportunity for better romances. Without better socialization, romances are forever stuck being shallow means of indroducing "Sex scenes".
Ironically, the social aspects of games has been getting worse over time. With more and more Pokemon style "Collect them all" companions, who will awkwardly stand around in some sort of hub until you take them with you in a party or go and talk to them (Where they've telepathically learned every thing you've done and said since you last talked to them). At least DoS2 avoided this by simply murdering everyone not in your party at the end of Act 1...
But really, this would be the best place to start with socialization. Make companions more alive. Those that aren't in your party, go out into the world and do things (They all have their own agendas right? That's the basis of the whole "Party member questline" thing). These things could be discussed when you reconvene in camp, or you could even encounter them in the world and help them out. Companions could simply leave your retinue if you don't interact with them or take them with you (Since why would they stick around if you don't care about them?) or if you do things that they don't like (And you haven't gotten a good reputation with them first). Companions could even become villains (Or heroes...) and try to hinder you if they deem you a threat to their plans.
This need to make all companions so pliable and safe so that players never lose the opportunity to have them in their party (With very few exceptions, besides not recruiting them in the first place) limits the impact of social actions.
