As of now I have spent around 20 hours in the game and I do not have the feeling I know anything, or that I am eager to learn more about what is happening. There is no intriguing and charismatic antagonist, but a few small ones that interest me not (the tadpole and Raphael, Gutt and the Drow). I also do not know if the tadpole and it's removal is indeed my main goal, or if it is just a symptom of something bigger going on. I also do not care, really. The tadpole seems a minimal threat, it does not bother me or others, it does not affect me personally or on a global level yet. At the very moment I am feeling just like a guy that is urged by family and friends to go to the doctor to get his moles checked out and subsequently removed, because they can cause melanoma further down the road. Similar urgency.
What I am also missing after so much time in the game is a hub like Athkathla or Baldur's Gate, a base of operations from where I can freely choose what to do next. I am still railoaded onwards for hours, which is fine for a classic act I, but not after 20 hours.
The tadpole is a redundant plot point actually. It is irrelevant by the time you discover it is in stasis through Ethel / Omeluum and will (hopefully) become irrelevant after Moonrise. The reason you find Act 1 too long, I think, is because the primary antagonist is supposed to not show up until the very end of the Act. We really have no idea what the story is about yet, so everything we have done up to now is busy work.
