itch.io

I think I just realized what the issue is. So, the way Twine works is that if you click/touch/hover over the box surrounding a choice, it will change color without registering as you having clicked on it. You'd think, since the choices have a dividing box, that clicking anywhere within it would work, but I forgot it's more of an aesthetic thing.  So for the choice to actually register, you need to click on the text itself. 

And to answer your question, though now you should be able to advance regularly through the game: the quick character creation is there for people who already played through the game and want to jump straight into later chapters. I added it for ease of playing when adding new chapters, since old saves can break if I make certain coding changes.