Is a no-Hoplite run doable first time through the game?

[Gleason]

There are too many other class ideas I want to try (I'm attempting to plot ahead). I'd love a Shogun/Buc but you unlock Shogun so late I think? ^^;

I was also trying to avoid using a Zodiac, but I'm leery of not having any elemental attacks for bosses that resist physical damage.

[Wolkenritter]

No Hoplite is perfectly doable, they're pretty useless in the first three strata actually. Zodiacs dominate the first two strata, but the game is perfectly doable without them either. Though it'll certainly be a little rougher.

[Gleason]

Cool, thanks Wolk! I'll probably make one of those cool little signature things shortly, but I think my party's going to go like thus:
Front: Princess, Monk
Back: Buccaneer, Ninja, Arbalist
I'll shoot for Armoroad path so I get Shogun, beat the main game, and hit NG+. Then I'll take:
Front: Princess, Hoplite, Shogun
Back: Zodiac, Monk
and try to take down the Abyssal God ~_~

[Myssdii]

If you need elemental damages, you should try to go with Regal Radiance on your Princess. It's devastating with an Arbalist as emitter (my current EO3 party uses this strategy, you can kill most FOEs and bosses with an elemental weakness in a 2-turns set-up once you can subclass your Arbalist as Zodiac).

Since you cannot really put your Arbalist in front without an Hoplite, I'd replace the Buccaneer with a Gladiator for the beginning of the game. Buccaneers are late-game bloomers with Pincushion, but before level 30-40 and subclassing they lack damages unless you build your party around it. Gladiators are much more solid, but your choice

[Gleason]

Well, I have a very shallow reason for not wanting a gladiator: I don't really care for the class's sprite sheet. XD; That and I like the 2 front / 3 back dynamic after using it to run EOU1 classic, though I won't ALWAYS run a party that way. Granted, a club gladiator would give me blunt / strike attacks outside of my healer (crossbows are pierce/stab too, I think?)

[Gleason]

Welp, I tried Buccaneer, and it was very not-exciting with the starter gun. Then I tried Myssdii's suggestion of gladiator and wow instant smush fun! So, introducing:

Yazmin the Monk: Her name just popped into my head, and I thought it was cool.
Serafina the Princess: named after a NPC-turned-PC princess from a tabletop campaign we had a long time ago.
Sandra the (club) Gladiator: Based off a grouchy axe fighter from a story I'm writing. Sandy SMASH!
Annie the Ninja: Annie, are you okay? Are you okay? ...are you okay, Annie? She probably won't be late game when I sub Hoplite on her, but I figure going full evasion skills will keep her alive longer. Provoke and the skill that gives you a really high chance of dodging for the turn (plus the passive that increases TP when you dodge). The self-professed leader.
Lua the Arbalist: Cool name for a cool looking gal (in my opinion).

Guild name: Milozind (A changeup from my usual, and a portmanteau of the name of every dog I've ever had bar one)
Ship name: Alice (same as my airship in EO4, same as...my car. >_>)

I'd say let the adventure begin, but it already has. Guy stayed with the group and dipped as soon as we got back to town; Sandra replaced him. Everyone's level 5 after the first mission clear!

[Fluffernuff]

I'm thinking about re-playing through this game again, but i've played every game though at LEAST the main story without a dedicated tank class on my first playthroughs. barring EOU1 story mode pre-level 30. i even reclassed raquna.and i'll do the same to bertrand in EOU2 whenever i start bothering with story mode. but i digress.
so without even recalling my specific team i can tell you plainly that... yes. no-hoplite is completely doable.........at least for the main story. i never actually went through the post game on EO3 to be able to tell that.

i will say though /Ninja is a good tanky subclass from my memory. my "tank" was prince(ss)/ninja and it let them serve 2 roles kinda well. but they have that "taunt" ability and the "dodge physical attacks" abilities so..

[SteelCrow]

When I finished this game for the first time (siding with Armoroad), my team was:

Front: Ninja/gladiator, Ninja/arbalist
Back: Monk/ninja

For this playthrough, I had already tried out a few different party comps, wherein I discovered the powers of Ninja. I started my game back over from scratch devoting the guild entirely to Ninja and Ninja subclasses. My team at level 1:

Ninja/Ninja/Ninja
Monk/Ninja

I spent money at the inn reviving my guys until my Monk got LV8 Blood Return at level 13. Aside from reviving my Monk (assuming the rest of my team survived), I never needed to rest at the inn again.
Later on when had >90% dodge chance + Smoke Grenades, my Ninja would dodge just about everything. When they couldn't, my Monk would solo the battle by spamming clones.
Good memories, definitely the best time I've had with this series. Love Ninja.

My second, much more recent playthrough also beginning from scratch focused primarily on Wildling:

Front: Princess
Back: Arbalist, Wildling, Wildling

The beasts totally tanked it out alongside my Princess. She had Zodiac subclass purely so that she could keep my party TP-neutral (that kind of thing matters to me), with none of the damage spells. By the time I finished Porcelain Forest, my beasts were more reliable for damage than my Arbalist, since the Wildlings were better at staying alive. I also found that Lion's attacks ignore weakness/resistance.

I still like Hoplite, but there are so many options in this game that it isn't necessary.