Ive played through many times. I don't care what people say, you have a mind flayer tadpole in your head. That's urgent.
So let me get this straight, if you had a tadpole in your head and people telling you your flesh will shed off, youd casually stroll about searching every little crack?
I agree with the OP, there should be a blend of storytelling and gameplay elements. ATM gameplay far outweighs the story, it would be nice if the player were punished for taking too long imo. Like when you get the bad ending . Or they could punish players for using the mindflayer powers too much, which could result in another bad ending where you turn into a mindflayer.
I think Act 1 should create urgency in the gameplay, you should sleep, maybe a maximum of 4 nights before the mindflayer worm gets you.
Perhaps Larian devs, you could create a difficulty that resembles this? Like a Role Playing difficulty, and you can have Classic as being non-punishing difficulty.
. Or they could punish players for using the mindflayer powers too much, which could result in another bad ending where you turn into a mindflayer. 
