FATE name references are pretty good. They're mildly annoying since I play on a non-English server and the jokes all render the names meaningless to the rest of the players I'm talking to (it's confusing!) but as standalone content, yeah, gives my group something to chat about when we're waiting in a zone. And they don't break my immersion at all because I don't care what FATEs are called. It's only when it's inserted into the actual story (repeatedly) that I start to get distracted.

I also don't mind the FF monsters reappearing. The team does a good job of introducing their own unique monsters/races alongside the traditional ones, IMO.