New update, yay! Can't wait to get back to the story. But, the idea of a new save scares me, as this game is grindy as heck. Most actions require 10 repeats, but there are typically 5 different animations. I think that would be an appropriate number. Of course there are cheat codes, but I do enjoy the feeling of progress, just not having to grind it quite so much.
As the game states at the very beginning, stats are not required to advance the story. No grinding is necessary at all. Leveling a stat to 10 will only unlock its corresponding trait, which may unlock more of the related content. Such has, having sex 10 times unlocks more sexual stuff. Half of these stats will level up naturally as you progress the story.