Hope dies quickly? Well the way that I drove up his gestualt gauge was to start out in an attacking paradigm, Light as a COM and Hope as a RAV and when he starts inflicting too much damage flip to Light as a COM and Hope as a MED or Light as a RAV and Hope as a MED if he gets real close to filling the gauge. What attacks are getting you so quickly? Trying to think of a more specific strategy, how advanced are you through your Crystarium?