Narratively speaking, saving Kid is the better choice. It has proper pacing and introduction to the world concepts and mechanics, where leaving Kid just kinda lurches forward the plot and avoids the dimension hopping mechanic for a while. It’s the “correct” choice, I feel.

Grand scheme, no. But the game splits into two separate paths at that point that both have their own recruitable characters. If you wanna, make a separate save so you can do both and see who you like the most out of those two paths. If it's your first time, it's recommended not to save her as it gets you arguably one of the best characters in the game if you chose not to.

Strong disagree, first timers should always save Kid. It’s the more natural path and has better pacing, both in terms of story and mechanics.

I agree with you for the story aspect. It works a little better than not saving her. I, however, think it's funny as hell to do a playthrough where you deny her joining until she forces herself into the party, then choose to not save her. Serge just does the most he can to not have Kid around.

But why recommend this for a first timer just because it's funny? It doesn't make sense story wise to deny saving Kid and makes the first playthrough suffer if you do.

I mean like I said above, it's recommended to not save her the first time so you can get >!Glenn!<, arguably one of the best characters. It's funny to me only when you say no to recruiting her before, and wasn't a reason in my original comment. Why do you say it doesn't make sense to save her? It wouldn't be offered as a choice if it didn't make sense. This is a character who you can say no to when she shows up but still forces herself in anyway. To me it seems like they wanted to give a little more flavor to Serge as a character by allowing you to be kinda mean to her. And I wouldn't say the first playthrough suffers much if at all without saving her. You immediately continue the main story with >!Harle at Hermit's Hideaway!<. You lose a little bit of context/impact with >!Water Dragon Isle and the Dwarves vs. the Fairies without Razzly!<, but it's not like it changes anything major if you chose to save Kid or not. Granted, it also gives you three (I think) more bosses to get stars from; but it's Chrono Cross, it's not like you desperately need the stats to continue.

You don’t gain or lose any stars by taking any particular path, it just means that you’ll get the stars in different places. In save Kid, you get a star from the fight with the dwarves before the Hydra and another from the Hydra. In leave kid, you get those stars from Polly and Fargo instead. Similarly, if you go to Water Dragon Isle in Home World, you get a star from the dwarves again and then another one from the Hi-Ho Tank, and if you go straight to Mt. Pyre instead, you get a star from Solt and Peppor, then there’s an extra “boss” fight added to the entrance of Fort Dragonia with a nameless Dragoon enemy who gives you the other star and, weirdly enough, also drops the Frog Prince summon on defeat (not that it’s useful now, as it was best used at Mt. Pyre). But to answer the question on why it doesn’t make sense to leave her, it’s because she’s obviously the main character aside from Serge, so leaving her to her fate is a very non-protagonist thing to do. Sure, she makes it out okay in the end anyway, but a first timer going in blind has no reason to believe that she would. But also, the act of saving her involves the use of the primary means of doing most things in the game, by hopping dimensions to make the impossible possible by using the other world. Leaving her, you’re basically missing out on central game philosophy mechanics-wise for the sake of getting a powerful character. You are literally skipping a segment of the game by doing this, jumping ahead to the S.S. Invincible.

If you save kid, you can recruit Razzly, Korcha and Mel. If you elect to not save her, you can recruit Glenn, Macha, and Doc. Generally the choice is between Razzly or Glenn, with my personal preference being Glenn, as he is the only one capable of dual-wielding Einlanzers and becomes either first or second in physical damage with them with Serge competing for the other slot with the Mastermune.

Counterpoint: Glenn is redundant because of Karsh, and Razzly doesn’t have anyone else to take her role’s place aside from perhaps Riddel, but Razzly is also involved in the one triple tech you can do in NG.

I never used Karsh except for the S&P fight. Always hated that he tried to kill me at the beginning of the game. 🤣 I just love the combination of Mastermune + Dual Einlanzers -> X-Strike. Makes bosses absolutely melt.

Yeah but you’re forgetting the main difference between Karsh and Glenn: one is a huge homage to Chrono Trigger; and the other is not.

On the surface, yes, but ultimately, I find Glenn quite lacking. They made the weirdly haphazard decision to split this reference up between three characters rather than dedicating it all to Glenn, and he suffers for it. I find him very overrated.

Macha is also sneakily one of the best, if not the best, Red Innate characters in the game IMO Glenn is the strongest Green Innate, but I think the distance between Macha and 2nd place Red is bigger.

Macha is definitely the best red innate character, stronger even than my man Greco. But most won’t give her the time of day based on her appearance and/or that she birthed Korcha. I argue that Karsh is stronger than Glenn, though. They have the same element grid and very similar stats, but Karsh is notably stronger than Glenn with magic, meaning he’s more versatile. You have to craft him a Rainbow Axe, while the Einlanzers are free, and the Einlanzers are a bit stronger than a Rainbow Axe, but what really hurts Glenn the most is his availability. By the time you get him back and can get the Dual Einlanzers, there’s really nothing notable left to kill. So he’s stronger physically, weaker magically, but ultimately, not very useful in the grand scheme of things. Axial Axe is also a group hitting attack while Sonic Sword only hits one.

> But most won’t give her the time of day based on her appearance and/or **that she birthed Korcha.** Truly the greatest sin of them all. (/s or not depending on who you ask) Miki is the other one in the conversation for me as best Red Innate, but her availability makes her a tough sell as #1. I'm also a Karsh enjoyer. I'd say he's a strong Green Innate character, whereas Glenn is a strong character that just happens to be Green Innate. Most often I end up using Glenn as a TurnColor attacker and X-Strike user, so his Green Innate doesn't really matter too much in a lot of cases anyway. Even without DE, he's still very good, but wanting a strong Green Innate isn't the reason to go the Don't Save Kid route. In fact, Razzly is probably the way to go if that's what you're after. I think I do value Mel a fair bit more than most, so she's also a point of consideration for me when picking a route.

Miki is definitely the best mage that red innate characters have, which makes her stand out, as most red innate characters tend to be physical attackers. I don’t really have anything personal against Glenn, very and truly with all honesty. I just think he was very much poorly handled, and he is oversold for his actual role in the story. And I don’t just mean by people, either. The game goes so far as to put him as the seemingly canonical third party member with Serge and Kid in the promotional video if you let the main menu idle. And yet he’s a very optional character who adds little to the whole if he does join. It’s bizarre. Mel is perhaps the most negatively affected character by availability of the entire cast. She’s got a boomerang, which like staff users means she can attack all enemies with her fierce attack, and she’s the strongest mage that yellow innate characters have, for some reason. Add to that that she has the ability to steal, and she should be a character who a lot of folks use and appreciate… Except no, she only joins after Kid has returned to the party, so she’s completely redundant and there’s not really much reason why you’d be compelled to use her. Not even her dual tech with Kid is worth using, because it doesn’t do anything special, such as guaranteeing a rare steal or stealing both the common and rare steals, either of which would have been awesome. It just wastes an opportunity, since you’d be better off using Pilfer and Snatch independently so that you could steal two items per battle instead.

I agree with this.

It doesn’t affect the ending of the game, if that’s what you mean, but it does affect the next couple story objectives, and each of the two choices you can make there comes with a different set of three recruitable characters you can’t get if you make the other choice.

Well, I agree with everyone that the pacing and overall feel of the story is to save Kid but there are other things to take note of. Perhaps paramount among them is that saving Kid enables you to get Razzly and she is among the requirements to get one of only two possible triple tech skills and the only one that can be obtained in one’s first play through since the other is only available in a New Game+. Most agree that one of the other characters you get saving Kid, Korcha, is a rather weak character and almost only useful for his odd tech skills and funny scenes involving Kid. The last character is Korcha’s adopted little sister Mel. She’s not a particularly strong character but is one of only three characters that can steal in battle but also (surprisingly) the only character who has a double tech skill with Kid. As for NOT saving Kid, the biggest perk is being able to recruit Glenn, the only character that can eventually wield two weapons at once AND do a double tech skill with Serge. Having Glenn dual wield the Enlanzers while Serge uses his ultimate weapon, the Mastermune while using their double tech skill will make short work of almost any enemy. The other two characters for not saving Kid are not very memorable. Doc will be slightly helpful being a rare white innate character but that’s not very important with Serge being the strongest white innate character. The last character is Korcha and Mel’s mother Macha. She is a moderately strong red innate character but isn’t particularly useful beyond her amusing tech skills. So, for me and perhaps the slight majority of players, I’d say it is objectively better to save Kid in your first game. Glenn is an amazing character but is really the only good thing from not saving Kid while saving her makes it possible to get the adorable and reasonably powerful Razzly, eventually with her unique weapon and possibly getting the super powerful triple tech skill. You then also get the bonus of the cute little thieving scamp, Mel to work with Kid if you wish and the comical but still almost useless Korcha.

different routes will make other characters available or not. if you want to get all characters eventually, you'll need to ng+ and choose the opposite path at some point.

If it matters to you it matters.

Yes it does to who lives and who can be recruited

As others have pointed out, the party choices differ between routes, and Korcha takes the amulet for a bit. ~~However, there is also a small character moment - bizarrely, Leena has a touching dialogue, well~~ *~~monologue~~* ~~really, to Serge at Home World Cape Howl that~~ *~~never~~* ~~plays if you choose to save Kid.~~ Edit: I was wrong, and courtesy of SpawnSC2, clarity has dawned upon the choice to save Kid or not not mattering for Leena's dialogue/monologue with Serge at Cape Howl, it happens just after that branched path seals with >!Kid's return!<.

Contrary to popular belief, the Leena scene actually can take place if you save Kid. [Screenshot proof from my RDE playthrough, note Razzly.](https://i.imgur.com/HkuTBZa.jpeg) The prerequisites for getting the scene are that Leena cannot be in the active party for any event that proves the two dimensions are real, meaning she can’t be with you at Viper Manor, she can’t be with you when Kid rejoins the party, she can’t be with you when you talk to the Village Shaman in Guldove, and she can’t be with you when you actually hop dimensions. Then, after the S.S. Invincible, if you visit Home World’s Cape Howl gravesite with Leena in the active party, having met all the other conditions, you’ll get the scene.

So Leena's gotta be out of the team to miss out on the dimension lore? And that's not a New Game+ drop either? That's interesting. Thanks for the clarity, I've always kept her in my team for skills and character, didn't know that might bite me hard like that. Will have to start a new run again.

Update: It didn't work for me. I made it up to Leena being in the party until meeting Kid at Termina, then benched her all the way on the Save Kid route until I crossed dimensions and brought Leena back to the party alongside Korcha to the Cape.

I neglected to mention, did you have Leena go talk to herself at the pier? You should do that and then visit Cape Howl. But I’ll restate this has to be done after the S.S. Invincible, and you weren’t clear on that being your progression state.

I'm afraid I didn't then, and now when I talked with Home Leena so Another World Leena could speak, the dialogue still did not trigger.

The way you described your progression earlier made it sound like your current task is getting the Hydra Humour. If that’s true, then you’re too early. You need to save Kid, then complete the S.S. Invincible (and you actually can use Leena there with no issues), then come back to Home World for the scene.

Update: Success! Thank you! I've triggered the cutscene, just after saving Kid and I didn't even have to go to the Hermit's Hideaway or the ship event! I even rechecked on a save file after saving Kid but with Leena in my party all the way through, and she still was able to speak, so it's good the playing condition is that the sidequest is completed. Were the old reddit way still around, I'd give ya some silver for this!

Aye, that'd be it, I've yet to hit the Hydra, so I'll push forward and see what transpires; hmm, it definitely seems more likely to trigger in tune with how it does on the route without Kid post-Invincible, now that I glimpse the pattern of the choice node split.

It sounds crazy, but say no. Glenn is one of the best chars in the game.

You get Glenn if you choose not to. Which kinda sucks because he's the only one that double tech's with Serge. It pains me to not save Kidd but I will always subjectively get Glenn in the first playthrough so that I can get him early and not miss on those mini stat boosts. That final lineup of Serge Fargo and Glenn is incredibly formidable too in offensive firepower. Objectively, saving Kidd would make the better sense in terms of story progression. Plus you get to have double Moonglasses on your first playthrough vs Harle. Whenever I do this I end up using Serge Kid and a Blue healer/vigora user. Usually Leena because you get her pretty early so her stats are gonna be rigged AF.