So, you can ignore modules, you can ignore scripts if you don't want them, and aside from that 2.55 lets you do a ton more without needing scripting; or a METRIC FUCKTON more if you DO want to do scripting. We are doing our best to make things as intuitive as possible.
As for 2.55 alphas, well, the keyword is alphas.
I prefer Imperial Tons.
Greater than 50% of the package filesize is eaten up with the Koten fiiles, test quests, and packaged add-ons and utilities needed for Win8+, newer joypads (or both); with utilities for font, dat, and sprite creation packaged that are all fully compatible. Packaging it all together is the only sane way to ensure maximum compatibility. Feel free to prune what you don't need. A stripped package would be ~45MB, but missing key components that some, or many, users will need for proper use of the software.
There isn't much that we can do with the UI short of a multi-year-long rewrite, and in my current health, waking up tomorrow is the best commitment that I can attempt to make. Getting this set up for generic and wider-application use is my goal; not rewriting the GUI. I'm simply not doing it. It's not in any way practical, nor is it strictly needed. The present UI works just fine, and the only similar software with a potentially better UI is RPG Maker--and even that is highly convoluted, and differing by release. If you try the alternatives, you come to appreciate just how straightforward the ZQuest interface is, in use.
Pico-8 might be the only thing that has a better 'UI', but it barely needs one.
Documentation and tutorials though? We do indeed need updates on both for the new version, but preparing that prior to features being finalised is a pure waste of time. I'm working on a full set of docs for ZScript at present that compliment the level of docs provided with gcc.
I literally cannot do every single thing needed. The work would drag on for years, so it will be up to volunteers to help work on a new wiki, updated docs, and especially videos. My voice completely dies after about an hour of speaking, so, video tutorials from me would be nearly impossible; and again, until a version is close to final, UI implementation and features are still in flux, enough that videos would become quickly dated or flat wrong.
I'm unsure how much you have used the new version, if you understand the context and scope of the new internal features, or what the last build you tested was. The amount of customisation purely from the GUI Editor has effectively doubled since 2.53.x. That completely ignores new scripting extensions.
All that aside, when I compare ZQuest to RPGM, GM, or Solarus, it is far more 'intuitive' and 'user-friendly' than any of the above, particularly the latter two;and one of only two free and open-source options amongst them. Lack of useful documentation and tutorials are a specific failing point, and have been for years, but as people adopt the new software, the amount of that material can grow.
P.S. Keep in mind that modules allow constructing other types of games purely from the GUI. Thus, the software is no longer inherently limited to Z1 clones; just NES-esque hardware era limitations (1983 to 1993). Quite literally nothing prevents making a Rockman Module, a Z2 Module, a Roguelike Module, a Shmup Module, or anything else that you fancy; short of available talent using the tools.