Kefka Sucks. Kuja Is Better

[The Man]

Most notably, it's pretty clear that he spends the entire first half of the game manipulating the Emperor. He plays the loyal minion for most of the game and then as soon as he has what he wants he kicks his former master to the side. He and the Emperor pull a bait-and-switch on the party twice, as well, which makes the fact that the Emperor didn't see it coming from one of his own minions all the more expert a case of manipulation.

That's not manipulation, that's waiting for the right moment to strike. The emperor was already an evil and ambitious man who wanted the power of the Espers(and the Triad) and went after it. Kefka didn't influence/manipulate Ghestal to be that way, or to do those things.
Also, both times Kefka and the emperor pull a bait-and-switch on the party, the credit for the idea/plan is allways given to Ghestal(by Kefka himself no less).
In the end, Kefka just went along with the emperor, following his orders and plans, while waiting for the right moment to strike. There was no manipulation.

You've completely misread my entire post. I never said that Kefka convinced Ghastla to do those things. I said that Kefka convinced Ghastla he was a loyal minion when he spent the entire game waiting for the right moment to strike against him. How is that not manipulating him? Ghastla trusts Kefka above and beyond the concerns of anyone else; he clearly recognises that Kefka is regarded as an inhuman monster by the rest of the world because he explicitly says so at the banquet with the party, and yet, despite the fact that doing so is intrinsically harmful to the perception of the Empire and thus conducive to rebellions against it, he still gives Kefka free rein to do whatever he wants, because he's convinced that Kefka would never do anything to interfere with his plans, or at the very least that Kefka's not powerful enough to stop him. That sounds like pretty smurfing expert manipulation to me. And it's not just "waiting for the right moment to strike." It's called subtly guiding the Emperor to a position where Kefka can do what he's been dreaming of doing for quite some time - namely smurfing up the world to cause as much death and destruction as possible. Or do you think it's just coincidence that Kefka is trusted enough to be there on the Floating Continent with the statues? It's not like he was needed there at all.

Furthermore, you misinterpreted my reason for bringing up the Emperor's manipulation of the party. My point was not that these were necessarily Kefka's idea, but that the Emperor himself was using exactly the tactics Kefka was using on him: convincing the rubes that he's loyal, when he really was plotting for his own ends. The fact that he can't see Kefka using exactly the same techniques on him shows that Kefka is experienced enough at manipulation to fool the master.