No, you don't have to start over. Those scenes are meant to be played at the beginning, so I recommend a fresh save.
I just downloaded 16.1 and there's a bug. Day 109 for me during Thursday morning, Autumn hears a noise and checks it out seeing Maria masterbaiting. After talking to Maria, she goes to MC's room to yell at him. After that, a dialog pops up saying "I should get close to Nia". When I hit enter, it doesn't progress and I can't use my mouse scroll wheel to go back. It's completely froze.