I never complained about it not being realistic. I complained because it just looks dumb and out of place. One of the things that made recent FF games great was the beautiful, highly-detailed environments that drew you in. Random battles definitely are annoying and silly, but (for me at least) they didn't kill the suspension of disbelief. However, seeing a giant killer horse pacing back and forth at random in a big stone corridor definitely kills it. It looks completely out of place. What the heck is a horse doing indoors anyway? The whole thing has a cheap dungeon crawler feel to it.
For the record, I'm not against the idea of seeing your enemies on the map before you fight them. I think that Chrono Trigger is the only RPG that has pulled this off successfully, however. Usually the enemies are either waiting to amubsh you or just playing in their natural environment. They actually feel like they belong there, unlike a horse wandering in a dungeon for no reason.
Yeah I think ATB is cool. The thing I didn't like about FF XII is that you can run up and start humping your enemies, but your character just stands there with their weapon at their side until the gauge is filled. Again, it looks dumb, and more importantly it just feels weird. I would've preferred something like FF X-2 or Skies of Arcadia where, even though it's turn-based, it still looks like one continuous fight and not just a bunch of characters patiently waiting their turn. Even the KOTOR games pulled this off somewhat successfully.