So when I finished episode 1 and 2 it just says go to title menu. When I start episode 3 using play it starts the game without the lock, nightshade and possibly other items I already gotten. What happened to them, and is it possible to start the chapter from a finished chapter instead of bare minimum starting?
There's not any way to continue, sorry. That was originally planned, but it got to be too much of a headache to try and make sure everything was transferring over correctly and not bugging out.
Fortunately, getting the nightshade is the only thing you actually need to do again.