Highly worthwhile, if slightly unfinished, mapset. Balance isn't perfect but in general it's quite challenging but just misses frustration - if you're sure to conserve. Better than the original DOE levels, would have served as a fine 3rd episode to DOE. Recommended.

Is the "Arabian Nights" in this the same as the separate "Arabian Nights" (Daz, 2000)?

Actually yes, Daz made 3 maps (called "Arabian Nights" as a set), then I attached them all together and remade the style, which is the map called "Arabian Nights" in this pack. I actually have an even more open version which I might release some day.

If you are willing to cheat when necessary (often) this can be fun in coop.

Really feels like it should have been a part of "Dissolution of Eternity". A few monsters have different skins, but their attacks remain the same. Difficulty is acceptable (for my taste at least), even though fighting against several guardians at once can be a test of patience. It's also great that the excellent "Arabian Nights" by Daz has been used and integrates quite well into this pack due to its Aztec/ancient setting. If the last map wasn't missing, it would be a perfect mission pack, but even without it, I'd say it's a must-play for owners of DoE.

What a terrible shame that the episode ends with "Host_Error: cannot find map maps/nj4.bsp". If the map's not been completed, so be it, but would it really have killed the authors to have instead given us a "Well done, you saved the universe again" message at the end of nj3?

Otherwise, I think this is lovely. The levels are beautiful to look at, and have some very nicely judged combats (though there a couple of places where they fall slightly into the corridor, open space, corridor, open space routine).

Should really be worth more than four stars, but I can't give five after that desperately anticlimactic ending, sorry! Four stars it is. Highly replayable, though.

A really unique experience to say the least...I don't know if the green skins really bring anything to that experience but they do fit on the last two levels.

I would say the ammo balancing is poor becomes the pack's greatest fault. The nocturnal Egyptian/rogue theme is a great breath of fresh air but the lack of ammo to do handle the creatures of the night take away from the magic. The Temple "Guards" are WAAAY too strong considering the ammo and I found myself ax dancing one of the mandatory warriors of the temple. Another instance is the requirement to shoot a switch to lower an elevator. You have to shoot said switch each time you need to lower the elevator...which should be only once. The issue arises when there are mass amounts of wraith enemies (Which are annoying as all living hell) can force you back down.

A niche issue sure, but I found myself literally stuck at the bottom of the elevator room with just my ax. I can't shoot a button with my ax thus I was forced to noclip...that's REALLY bad.

I enjoyed the 2nd realm much more than the first and found it to be one of the more unique settings I have seen in a good while. The toxic metal otherworld was a treat to roam around in but was still plagued with the ammo balancing...but less so.

I also think Tronyn has a serious obsession with scrags ;)

It may sound like I complained more than I acclaimed but I did enjoy the pack and the amount of effort is worth 4 stars alone.

If you run into issues (model not found and the likes), make sure you rename PAK0.PAK to lowercase.

I started playing the first level in Nightmare and it is way too hard. Not because of the typical Tronyn hordes and excesses like those found in his other works, but because there simply isn't enough health and ammunition to keep going. My strategy boils down to running all the time just to minimise shooting, hoping not to take in too much damage, but now I'm cornered in a small space by Knights, Fiends and three Shamblers after pushing the button that opens the Magical Barrier, so I guess I'll just retry in a lower difficulty setting because this simply isn't fun anymore.

Same experience on hard. I thought this was supposed to be rebalanced to be playable.

I have created a patch for this specific mission pack which adds some DoE ammo, that missing rocket launcher (how could they?), a few more DoE enemies and an intermission message after leaving the last level (going back to njstart instead of getting a console error). If there is any interest for this, I can upload it and post a link here.

@Nightfright - well of course!

There's an awful lot to like about this episode, and I'm grateful that it was released. The brushwork in places is absolutely epic IMO. Most of it is real eye candy and compels exploration.

I usually play everything I am able on skill 2 and started this out that way as well, but could not get past the 3 Guardians. I even restarted and played as conservatively as possible, making the most of infighting to conserve ammo, but I'd still end up swinging the axe at that point. In order to successfully complete the episode without cheating, I had to restart and play at skill 0.

If it were not for the unbalanced ammo and health situation, I'd have given this a solid 5, but 4 is where it belongs in my experience. Also, I'd really love to see that lost final map!

Here is the patch I mentioned in Sep 2021 before it's getting lost:

https://www.quaketastic.com/files/misc/nj_fix.zip

Map changes: - NJSTART/NJ1: Music added - NJ1/NJ1B/NJ2/NJ2B/NJ3/NJ3B: Replaced some standard ammo with DoE assets - NJ1/NJ1B/NJ2/NJ3/NJ3B: Replaced some standard enemies with DoE assets - NJ2B: Added one Rocket Launcher - NJ3: Replaced one Grenade Launcher with a Rocket Launcher - NJ3B: Replaced Super Shotgun and Grenade Launcher with Rocket Launcher and Lightning Gun; changed exit portal message; return to start map (NJSTART) - NJ1/NJ1B/NJ2/NJ2B/NJ3/NJ3B: Minor message fixes

Code changes (progs.dat): - Code fixes from "Authentic Models Pack" (AMQ), based on Maddes' URQP - New episode ending text after completing NJ3B (client.qc) - Reset inventory after returning to NJSTART (client.qc)

Note: Map patches will only work with a port which supports external ent files (e.g. Mark V).