Why do elements systems always do Fire is strong vs Ice?

[Violeta]

Because melted ice is water and fire is weak to water. And if ice means extreme cold, then that means of all things, fire will have the hardest time warming it up to burning temps.

[Zekiran]

Because water isn't the same as ice.

An ice monster will melt from fire into a puddle, not into a water monster.

[moon]

I wondered this in Pokemon. If I threw ice on a flame or fire then it would go out. Same as throwing sand, but fire does melt ice so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Barney, from Black Mesa.]

Water evaporates into steam.

[Violeta]

Originally posted by ｢ H E I Ð I N N ｣:

I think you've forgotten that water evaporates into steam.

If the fire is hot enough to vaporate water, then why would the fire be weak against water?

[Z i o ⚡]

Originally posted by Zekiran:

Because water isn't the same as ice.

An ice monster will melt from fire into a puddle, not into a water monster.

That.

[Masque]

Intriguing ideas. Fire monster attacks ice monster. Ice monster turns into water monster. Water monster defeats fire monster. Whoops.

[Naedmi]

But when it all comes down to it, if we're talking about Pokemon it's mostly just a rock, paper scissors mechanic that keeps that game afloat.

[Magma Dragoon]

Heroes of Might and Magic V warlock hero passive and I think Final Fantasy X had opposing elements strong against each other

[Barney, from Black Mesa.]

Originally posted by Carpal:

Originally posted by ｢ H E I Ð I N N ｣:

I think you've forgotten that water evaporates into steam.

If the fire is hot enough to vaporate water, then why would the fire be weak against water?

It takes allot of water to extinguish a moderately big fire compared to a smaller fire.
I guess it depends how hot and consistent the fire is and how much water we are talking.

[Morphic]

Originally posted by Magma Dragoon:

Heroes of Might and Magic V warlock hero passive and I think Final Fantasy X had opposing elements strong against each other

Yup. It was basically a "First Strike" system. Water attack on Lightning Monster does bonus damage, Lightning attack on Water Monster does bonus damage. So if a Lightning Monster and Water Monster fought, each hit would do bonus damage so whoever hit first would win. Though in FFX's case there was Water and Ice, so Ice <-> Fire and Water <-> Lightning.

Generally speaking, most "elemental systems" function as elongated rock paper scissors. Even games that feature a range of elements still usually follow suit.