Is this really all there is to this game?

Sorry for the title that sounds like a clickbait, but it really does summarizes my feelings towards the game and my desire to know more about it.

Backstory: I learned to play Go 20 years ago, I quickly rose to 18kyu and then improved myself until online-amateur 1d. Due to reallife getting in the way, I had to stop. Nowadays I came back to it, but instead of "just" playing for fun, I wanted to get really good at it, really take a scientific approach to the game instead of just randomly playing people until my rank rises.

My research: Not only did I wrote down countless ways how a play may evolve to different states, I've also looked at current players(same and above my current rank) and even looked at hundred year old professional games. Most importantly, I looked at the basics of the games, at the mere rules, and thought them through.

Conclusion: The game, or at least how most play the game, from amateur to pros, is incredible basic and boring. Players start off with roughly 8 stones building a very basic foundation and then...place one stone in enemy territory and hope it can live/kill that group/stone, and most of the gameplay surrounds that one attack. If that group dies, the other person almost always guarantees wins, if that group survives(the stronger the player, the higher the chance) someone tries again in another place if there is enough space, if not, then fight for the final few points(which with amateurs basically never matter and even with pros becomes more luck than strategy)

And...that's all there is to it. Placing a stone in enemy territory and let that one thing decide the game. To me that sounds incredible dull, it will end up becoming just a game of luck or memorizing a million patterns how to develop two eyes in small spaces, instead of strategy.

I could expand on the knowledge I gained the past few weeks a bit more, but it's already a pretty lengthy post, so I will leave it as that. So to reiterate the question in the title: Have I somehow gotten a wrong impression, or is this what the "game is all about" and all of you accepted this and think this is a fun way to play?