Of course not. If LEGO did not change they would be out of business right now.
Your comment is about nostalgia.
You can still buy the basic LEGO blocks. So why would you advice someone to use Meccano or Roblox? You can even buy LEGO Architecture Studio (set 21050) exactly for the reason you call 'non-directed play'. And all those blocks are still compatible with the 1970's blocks.
So in a way LEGO did not change at all.
Nostalgia is thrown out as some kind of accusation all too often, but (and this is a trivial observation) things can absolutely worsen with change/time too.
Just because LEGO "had to adapt" doesn't mean that (given some set of principles on might have about it) any adaptation is equally good or as good as what was before...
E.g. on such principle could be: "What is good is building stuff with blocks from imagination, not pre-made movie-based themes"
Didn't read this as an accusation, simply a remark that the original comment was not necessarily about declining quality or compatibility (as proven by the comment you're responding to) but mostly that LEGO has changed its focus, making it different from what it used to be when we were younger, but not objectively better or worse.