I’m also fairly “meh” about romance in these games - an opinion I have spoken freely about multiple times, by this point - but I’m not totally against them. Sometimes, romance between characters can serve to punch up a story.
And it’s not like I’m roleplaying as myself in these stories - if I were, the plot would grind to a halt at chapter one - so if I’m playing a character who might be inclined to feel some way or another towards some other character, then yeah, I have no problem pursuing a romantic subplot for them. It doesn’t do anything for me, but I like my characters to be happy.
My only big sticking point with romance in CoG games is that it must be done right. I have no patience for the stories that have romance purely as an afterthought, or the ones that try to force-feed it to you whether you like it or not. I also don’t like when a character is introduced, and my character’s perspective of them is to forever see them as eye candy in spite of anything else they may say or do.
Furthermore, the context of the story matters, as well. If I’m playing a military drama, I’m not gonna screw around with a romance subplot. We’re at war, damn it, now’s not the time for canoodling. On the other hand, a story about an American transplant to Japan, teaching English to Japanese students, meeting a fellow teacher and connecting with them over a shared love of manga, ultimately culminating in them becoming an item? Sure, that’s fine, that’s pretty cute, even.
So yeah, that’s my take: Romance is predominantly not a priority, or an interest, for me. But on the occasions where I might take an interest in it, it had better be done well, and it had better make sense for the story it’s in. None of that, “You’ve been kidnapped and are being held hostage by psychotic space pirates, now choose which one you want to have sex with” crap.