Both restcoser's version and John_III's version look very appealing to me. John gave it that very lively, distinguished and detailed look which I always love about his maps and restcoser has been able to produce a serene and mysterious feeling around this place, like nothing ever seen before.
I was able to test restcoser's version and here is my personal opinion:
- Very nice, like I already told you on IRC. And good job on the lion's heads!
- There is only one ambient sound, which is barely hearable except when using the jumppad in the middle. It's a big mysterious place, some sounds could emphasize that.
- Try to use a value of 1.25 - 1.5 for the specmap of the glass over the flags. The high value it has right now makes it too difficult to see whether they are there or not.
- A couple of more lights in the hallways could break up the monotone walls texture you used. they are sort of dark too, so it would be a double good thing imo.
- 2 more screenshots to make the next points clearer:

- Problem with the envmap on this Alpha sign, which you crafted very precisely :)

- Where you change directions of the floor texture, it looks better when you use another one in between them...