Is Pokemon GETTING weird? I'm sorry, but that bus left the depot on day 1 when we were trying to soothe the ghost of a skull-wearing bone-wielding mama lizard caveman thing to reach the top of a tower, catching useless fish that evolved into flying serpentine dragon critters, and saving Lostelle from a Hypno that "wouldn't stop scaring!!!"
I'm terribly sorry, but I don't see how all that ISN'T weird compared to fusing two Pokemon together.
It sounds like your friend outgrew/is outgrowing the franchise, plain and simple. It happens to lots of people, but not to everyone. And many of the people who do outgrow the game state similar garbage rationalizations, without really giving the games a fair chance. They're just not into it anymore and they blame the games rather than their own growth for that.
But no, as you can see, not all loyal fans are the same and not all outgrow the game, and thus, I totally disagree with your friend. I've been in on the franchise for... 7 years I guess. Not as long as many other people I know, but I got started much later. Only in Gen III. And I'm not about to quit anytime soon. Too many fun things, too many fun designs, too many new strategies to try, and too many variations I can make on both old and new games for me to be ready to quit, or to have the series end on me! n_n