1-22 "Shrine" plays here. The floors are white stone, possibly marble, and the walls are columns made of a similar material.

Selena can wield swords, staves, and whips, and can wear lightweight, medium, and female-only armor. Like Maxim, her attributes start out fairly average, though she's better with magic than he is, and before long rivals even Tia in magical power. As the game progresses, Selena's magic abilities increase faster than her physical prowess, so she ends up being more of a mage than a fighter, but she can still hold her own reasonably well in physical combat. Her GUT is average; not as high as Guy's, but rather better than Tia's. She's also the only character with the Light spell, which is neither useful nor usable for nearly the entire game.

Selena's initially low AGI increases well as she gains levels, typically overtaking Maxim's by level 25 or so and only continuing to improve from there. She never gets as fast as Tia, but that's the only comparison where Tia comes out on top in the long run. At equal levels, expect Selena to have more HP at all levels and especially at higher ones, more MP after level 40 or so, significantly more STR at all levels, and more INT at all levels. MGR has more uneven growth, giving Selena a moderate disadvantage at low levels (up to about 20 or 25), turning into a moderate advantage at medium levels, before they both end up with nearly identical values at high levels (around 60 and up). Think of her as a slower Tia with better equipment selection and better overall stats, if that helps.

As always, there are puzzles. A (poorly hidden) secret passage through one wall leads to a cracked wall that leads to a cracked floor that leads to a treasure chest with a Round Shield. Sliding platforms in the basement lead to an Undead Ring, Fury Bracelet, Cold Rapier, and:

...with that, the party can pass through the center door in the entry hall, where monsters that move too quickly to avoid run out from behind pillars. The next puzzle is fairly simple and involves a platform that moves by flipping switches, with a useful Bat Rock through the south door. Then there's a trick in the apparently empty room with the stairs that continue upward... walking into an odd spot on the right wall reveals more of the room, with monsters and a chest with an Intelliring. Upstairs is a room with two crates on buttons, a strange platform, and a sign to help.

That's old news, but it does suggest that the Bomb will be needed here. Dropping one next to each of the boxes so that they are destroyed at different times (not both at once) and walking onto the platform allows the party to cross.

A few rooms later is a rather strange arrangement with no explanation. On the near side of the room are several arrow symbols in the floor, pointing across the room. In front of each arrow is a walkway. There are occasional connecting paths between the walkways. On the far side of the room, one walkway ends at a door, while the others end at teleporters, all of which warp to the beginning of the room. However, the door won't open. The only way to get the door to open is to start at a walkway and move forward, taking every sideways path reached along the way, and ending at the door. Only one starting point will lead to the door with this method. The quick and dirty way to find the correct starting point is to begin at the door and work backwards.

I've seen something similar done as a way of "drawing straws" in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, as a bonus minigame in Super Mario Land 2, and probably elsewhere. The setup is fairly widely known in Japan, where it's called Amidakuji.

The people in charge of the NA version of the game seem to have decided this puzzle would be too difficult, confusing, or obscure for American players, so they replaced it with a series of small tile color-changing puzzles, with rules like Othello (also known as Reversi). As such, the signs shown to the right do not appear in the JP version.

I won't go into detailed solutions, but I'll mention a few things anyone struggling with the block puzzles should keep in mind. Diagonals work, in addition to vertical and horizontal lines, so keep them in mind. It's also perfectly legal to move a tile without using it to change the color of any other tiles, in order to set up a later move.

In either version, right after that room are the usual HP and MP recovery tiles and save point. Up another flight of stairs, the party approaches an important-looking doorway, but a blue clown and a red clown suddenly appear in swirls of red sparkles. The blue one speaks:

Ridiculous as it seems, the party tries confronting one of the clowns.

And they fight, and the clown dies, and then it mysteriously reappears...

And the party is warped back outside of the room. They try attacking the other clown, with exactly the same results, down to the dialog. Being too persistent (or stubborn) to give up that easily, the party heads back in again, but Selena stops them at the entrance.

Selena speaks more informally to Maxim a few times here. Maybe it's because she feels like she's taking on more of a leadership role for a little while...

...she's back to formal language...

This strikes me as the best tactical choice he could have made, even leaving aside the likelihood that he feels like he has to protect Tia (which is a good point). He could have chosen to fight with Selena and have Guy and Tia make up the other group, which would have resulted in the most balanced teams, but Selena's opposition to the situation has mostly been directed at Maxim, so putting her with Guy, to whom she's been merely indifferent, shows some degree of tact. Putting Selena and Tia together, on the other hand, would be poor for balance since Selena and especially Tia are primarily mages, while Maxim and especially Guy are primarily fighters. It's also possible that he's noticed Tia isn't terribly fond of Selena, which is another reason not to put the two of them together.

They return to the boss room.

Maxim and Tia head for the blue clown, while Guy and Selena go for the red one.

And the fighting ensues.

Although the battles supposedly occur at the same time, the player controls them one after the other, and the active capsule monster even joins both fights.

The blue clown attacks with fire and thunder, and is weak against water and ice (but resists thunder), while the red one attacks with water and ice, and is weak against fire and thunder (but resists ice). With a smaller party fighting each, the battles are more difficult, but still manageable.

For best results, equip Maxim with the Cold Rapier from the basement here, Tia with the Aqua Whip from the Ruby Cave, and Guy with the Fire Dagger from the tower southeast of Tanbel. Those lucky enough to have Camus's Cryptolith should find that its IP works well for Selena or Guy, too.

And both clowns fade out and die, and they don't come back this time.

That's a neat bit of backstory. Unfortunately, her familiarity with such tales is never again helpful, or even mentioned, as far as I can remember.

Maxim and Selena continue into the inner room. Tia and Guy pause for a moment.

Beaten... at what? If it's not clear yet, it will be later...

Tia goes into the inner room. Guy follows soon after. And inside, just as Selena predicted...

Selena's relative keeps making leading comments.

The king's reaction is of more immediate importance, though.

Suddenly, a soldier rushes into the throne room.

The music fades out.

"Despair" starts playing.

And they finally leave the throne room, this time with Maxim right behind Selena, and Guy and Tia a step behind. The music stops.

I always thought the NA version makes it sound like she's surprised that he effectively called the soldiers useless incompetents. The JP version makes it clear that what she's surprised about is that he was attentive enough to notice and care about them instead of largely overlooking them.

And so, the party marches boldly into the basement, finding an Angel's Raiment. Sort of a strange reward, but useful regardless.

The guard at the small shrine to the west cautions them as they pass though.