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Hope's biggest disadvantage as a Commando is his low strength stat, but then, he gets Ruin right away so that shouldn't be a big issue. In fact, Commando can be very effective for Hope against enemies that are weak against Magic but resist most Elements. He lacks many auto Abilities, notably including Launch, making him a poor choice as your lone Commando, but then, you're not likely to use him in that Role.
Hope is the best Ravager in the game, provided your target is not more vulnerable to Physical than Magic attacks. The only Abilities Hope lacks are the -strike Abilities, which is usually fine but will occasionally make him virtually useless. Hope also has the Last Resort special Ability, which will very rapidly build the chain bonus of a staggered target.
Like Sazh, Hope is one of two Characters that can inflict every Status Ailment in the game. However, Hope exclusively gets multi-target versions of these debuffs (as well as the standard Dispel). This makes Hope an effective Saboteur against groups, but since his Abilities cost three times as many ATB segments, he's a liability when you're only looking to debuff a single target (which is usually the case). He can't even use two debuffs in a round without the Nue.
Despite having the lowest HP in the game, Hope makes for a fairly interesting Sentinel. Like Lightning, he doesn't get Challenge and favors Elude over Mediguard and Steelguard, but Hope also gets the counterattack Abilities, Entrench and Vendetta. He's fun to play around with, but not much use against truly powerful enemies.
Hope, like Sazh, eventually gets almost every basic Synergist Ability (though he gains Veil over Sazh's Vigilance). Until Chapter 10, however, Hope is primarily a defensive Synergist, with Abilities like Protect, Shell, and Bar-spells. Which of the two is more useful depends largely on how hard the enemy in question hits.