>>45443196Because it makes the early game progression janky, although even the main series does this more now so it’s kind of dissolving as a reason. So I’ll drop that. Steel and Rock resisting Normal are massive spanners in the works though, and Fighting being so good against early normals does too.
There are also very little perfect triangles, where all three types have equal relations to each other and themselves. Most triangles falter just short of that. The only one that comes to mind that isn’t GFW is FFR - Fighting, Flying, Rock. None resist themselves, are weak to and NFE on the type after, and beat and resist the type before. Steel/Fighting/Fairy and Fighting/Psychic/Dark have members that don’t resist themselves and Dark is straight up immune to Fighting.
Also it’s just straight up easier to explain Grass drinks water > water douses fire > fire burns grass, and manipulating elements immediately feels more magical and interesting. Compared to can’t punch bird > punch rock > throw rock at bird, that is.