It is not like the original has gotten worse as the time goes on, but people tend to be harsher on the original just because now they have a reference point.
It is a great anime that I think fans of FMA:B should watch.
For the Dragon & The Princess expansion, but also for any expansion that involves eating meeples:
So it creates a decision of space where strong meeples aren't annoyingly wiped out but make interesting decisions surrounding meeple management, making you able to decide to let the dragon eat badly positioned meeples, while some you would need to discern if they are worth it.
This sorta makes the dragon still exciting since it can for sure wipe out a good chunk of points if there are clustered meeples, but not as annoying to completely disabling commited players from the game.
Obviously as with all house rules the value could be adjusted but the idea remains.