Well, I mean, the Chrono-verse is pretty eclectic. The first game had a robot, a princess, a cavewoman, some village kids, a frog-man and an ancient wizard.

I'm not saying I like them but how does FunGuy or NeoFio not fit in with that?

Poshul though, smurf Poshul.

Anyway, I just got to Fort Dragonia. You must get most of the characters in the second half of the game. Razzly died fighting the Hiho Tank and I spent literal hours on that boss fight so I'm not redoing it. Those stat gains are gone forever and I had no real interest in her being an endgame party member anyway. But my point is, I have:
Serge, Kid, NeoFio, Guile, Luccia, Mojo,Skelly, Leena, Poshul, Greco, Razzly

That makes 11 when I know this game has a cast of 40-something. You must get most of the cast in the second half. I know I remember very distinctly a hilarious moment when everyone from the "Viper Manor Crew" joins up. You know how each time somebody joins there's the victory music and a witty character-specific line? I remember how the victory music just went crazy and wouldn't stop when Viper, the Dragoons and Riddel all join up.At least I think they all joined at the same time...

I ignored the characters I didn't find interesting so I forgot a lot about pretty much everyone. There are a ton of Black Innates in this first half though between Guile, Mojo, Luccia and Skelly. Almost no Yellows though except Poshul and it's smurfin' Poshul so they don't even really count.

They probably gave a huge cast because they have 6 Elements to work with and want to make sure you find somebody you like who represents each of them. But that still probably would make a cast of...18 maybe? 3 characters per Element seems fair.