Thank you for trying the game again.
I appreciate the feedback but in all honesty I have no idea how you managed to play the game without starting a new save. I think most of the issues you experienced might have been the result of that because you'd only have 20 hp if your CON and STR were 1, and the starting value for Katrina is 6.
I think the game would've crashed immediately had you reached the new content.
I apologize for the issues, I'd make it clearer next time that save data is not compatible between versions yet.