[HELP] Etrian motherfuckin' Odyssey

[k1k1k1k1]

Etrian-motherfucking-Odyssey.

I've been in a love-hate relationship with this game for about a year now.
I hate how you have to grind like a slave in the cotton fields, but I love challenging RPGs.

I've only gotten up to B3F ;_;

Advice, goddammit. Tell me how I can raise an effective party without all the damn grinding.

I have a Landshnecht (however they're spelt), a Dark Hunter and Medic in the front line, and a Survivalist and Alchemist in the back line.
Protectors don't do shit (their 'Protect' skill fails half the fucking time, seriously?) and Bards are kind of useless to me, I'd rather have a survivalist in their place.

Any recommendation, etc? I have one of each class, moderately leveled, btw.

Also, how does EO 2 and 3 stand up against 1?

[SirthOsiris]

[k1k1k1k1]

[Wolkenritter]

Protector -
Go for Defender and/or F Guard. F Guard helps reduce damage for the front row whilst Defender reduces damage for the entire party. You may want the Antielements too but they're mainly for use in post-game (Anticold is useful against the B15F boss though). Also if you want them to do damage you'll want Smite.

Lands -
Never used one. But I hear good things about Allslash and the chasers.

Medic -
Don't put them in the front. They should always be in back until they're properly prepped and ready to be a combat Medic. Anyway, Immunize is the famous EO1 cheese skill. Combined with Defender; you can make FOE and Boss fights fairly trivial. If you want an easier time against those go for it. Otherwise, get healing skills. Heal often.

Survivalist -
Apollon + Multihit. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of the best damage dealer in the game. Also I highly recommend getting 1st Turn as well. It will help out in those emergency situations.

Alchemist -
Early game you should aim for poison skills. They're capable of killing everything in the first two stratum in one or two hits (Except the two bosses of course). Once you reach the 3rd, rest the Alche and aim for one or two elements. My recommendation is Volt element. You can even still use Poison along with your proper attacking element if you want. Bear in mind though, that the 3rd stratum is when enemies start to get much more HP and resist the status more.

Dark Hunter -
If you have whips go for the binds. They can be very helpful in preventing those enemies from using their more nasty special skills. If by some miracle you can land all three binds on an enemy you have Ectasy to deal a large, well deserved amount of damage.

Personally though, I prefer swords. You have Drain which deals good damage an keeps the DH in tip top shape. Hypnos which inflicts sleep, making it automatically better than the binds against normal enemies (Against bosses and FOE though the binds are better). Finally you get Bait, which if you cna get to work (Its very hard to pull it off since Provoke doesn't work >_<), it is one of the best damaging moves in the game.

[noodles]

[SirthOsiris]

Oh...

Then forget what I said about the Gunner, War Magus and Hexer.
Consider making your medic learn Immunize, MAX IT, before you reach the boss, if you can. Get access to spells first, get Refresh to a point where it heals all status, a point in Revive. Also consider the concept of a protector with Defender and Smite.
Keep your Landsknecht, max Allslash ASAP, give him all the best weapons, and watch as waves of enemies crumble.
Keep the alchemist, consider poison with max TOXIN for a while, until the 5th stratum. Above said 3rd, and I'd agree, but it was useful against some enemies at the end of the fourth, due to physical resistance. Keep spells low and masteries high for TP. Max the second levels, not the first; point in multi-targets, especially if you get the Sknecht's chasers. I'd either go with the above advice and get Volt, or do what I did and get Fire and Ice.
Oh, and coupled with Immunize, in regards to the survivalist:

GET
FIRST
TURN

[k1k1k1k1]

Cheers everyone. Just realised I've kinda fucked up my party, so I suppose I'll have to work harder to remake it.
Thanks again.
Any more advice would still be appreciated.

[Wolkenritter]

[SirthOsiris]

[ThatOrcEngineer]

I would have to disagree. Fight FOEs, just fight Red FOEs later.

[Maxine MagicFox]

You know... "red" Foes just mean that they are chasing you. There is no correlation to "red = stronger" "purple=weaker". >_> There are no yellow FOEs in EO1

[Wolkenritter]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[SirthOsiris]

[Maxine MagicFox]

Oh! Sorry, Sirth. You're right. ^_^; Honestly I never pay much attention to the on-screen colors so I forget about them XD