Hi, let's take it step by step:
1. On what device are you playing? It's strange that it took you 7 minutes to load the game (after downloading and unzipping it the game shouldn't have Loading times more than a few seconds)
2. Our game focuses mainly on gameplay + story. You can save from the Options menu in the Lobby (that screen where you can go to the Next Day). If you didn't reach that screen yet you can just skip the Story (in the latest version) and Save.
3. If there's too much to click through in between the story chapters you can Skip then Replay the whole story at once. As per the latest version you can Replay the main story.