It does help that Helia's more of an exception on the first game. Like you still have other lovers that are very much different from her on that regard. And I do think you can just fast-forward through her bullshit and eventually just stick with the good parts which (even if not ideal) is still decent enough. That and she's a part of CoC1, where the batting average is usually pretty decent, if not a bit lacking because it too had problems getting out there (looking right at ya, Isabella) and where player input was generally more pro-player (Izma and Amily come to mind).
CoC2's companion crew has Brienne who does love the PC (think Brint apparently does have a similar relation with a female PC, someone will probably clear that up) and her only real problem is probably her frequency. So, y'know. A- and all that. Then we have the Atugia who's fairly alright and a bit better now that they gave her some scraps to do, Agnimitra who's probably one of the funniest character they came up with but not particularly great at the whole romance thing (and a couple of other things as well, come to think of it), Viviane ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), Kiyoko (who Tobs proceeds to ruin by the time you get her as a companion for whatever reason), the Women with Penises Tag Team (one's a sub, one's a dom, personally care for neither but I do suppose they have strong romance in their own ways) and that one character nobody likes. I feel like I'm forgetting someone but I'll just move on.
So, y'know, not the greatest of batting averages to begin with, even worse if you dislike futas. Though at least they made it so you get both types of futa this game has - the one who might as well be a man with breasts and the one who only happens to have a dick.