It's apparent in how the "rules" for anything are unclear and depend on copious amounts of exposition.
Great post, especially some of the insight into the development -- and this quote sums up part of why the opening of Act 3 lands with a thud for me. It ended up being a story that not only wasn't engaging to me but wasn't told particularly well either.
Also, as an aside -- it strikes me as bizarre that they were pushing so hard for the player to start cramming more tadpoles into their skull when the overall narrative continuously states that tadpoles are going to be the death of us. Even the animation for unlocking Illithid powers is unambiguously sinister...
