Luckily i havent experienced the stuttering issues (Played on PC), but i hope you can get them fixed!
The things that helped me to stay engaged were on the one hand the world/level design (lots of small riddles everywhere, that sometimes involve backtracking & clever Parcour, but also the gorgeous landscape & detailled environments), on the other hand the story and its cute characters! I think giving each area the time it deserved and not rushing through things also helped (Took me around 75 hours to beat the base game).