My first time beating it on hard was basically this.

When I first tried it on hard we tried Templar for 5 hours and then just gave up

My group designated me as the only person to go down during Templar, they would all sit up top and use icebreakers and whatever else they could to do damage to the Templar. I would run around and call out taking down the shield and I had to worry about certain oracles too. It was difficult for sure, and sometimes a pain in the butt, but it was fun :p