I see. Well, I played the Sotfs edition. Do you mean the dragon in Heidis tower?
As for bonfire astetic, since it also increases the difficulty of the mobs I don't think I want to use it when I'm stuck somewhere already
I can see what you mean with the usage though.
What were the issues with the base game if I may ask? Because imho there were still lots of issues, like the weapon swing not being focused on enemies if you circle them despite active target lock on, basically missing my attacks because of that issue and making circling enemies in general a bad idea in this game. Or the bug that reduces the durability of your armor and weapon twice as much just because you run the game in 60 FPS instead of 30 as the original game did on console. Or the broken instant-hits of enemies despite the animation of the attacks barely starting, which made reacting to certain enemies almost impossible.
I don't know... I love DS1 so much, and I consider it one of the best games I've ever played but DS2 compared to that is so unrefined... It just isn't for me I guess. As for the DLC bosses, I didn't challenge them because I just wanted to get it done and finally be able to deinstall the game, because I didn't enjoy the playthrough.