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.