No, spellcasters AREN'T SUPERIOR, except in few Magocracies on Faerun(Netheril and Thay for eg), and on D&D everyone can learn magic and become a Wizard or even a Warlock. On Pathfinder, too. You need a lot of money and study but that is it.
In any fight between a caster and a non caster the caster will almost always win unless you set up scenarios specifically so that they favour the non caster. For example, "the cleric was asleep." Or, "the mage was drugged." If the caster knows the non caster is a threat to them - the non caster is dead. That is just looking at combat scenarios, outside of combat, the caster is also much more versatile. If, for the sake of roleplay here, you were some child growing up in Faerun and you could pick between learning to use a sword and learning magic, learning magic would almost always certainly be a better career opportunity. Note - I am not saying that it is bad to have a world like this, but I am saying that this is fundamentally the way the world of Faerun is.
And your example of rock paper and scissors is a awful example because they are mechanic the same. "A" always wins over "B" and loses to "C". There are no way to have variety, immersion and balance.
Is like accessibility and depth. You can't have both.
My example of Rock, Paper, Scissors was the most basic example you can get for a balanced system where not all elements are identical. It is the philosophy pvp games use for balance. But ok, if you want a bit more "meat" to the example, how about we call it Archer, Infantry, Cavalry.
We will use a basic "game" system to simulate this, with the stats armour, movement, hitpoints and attack.
- Infantry have 3 armour, 3 attack, 6 hitpoints, 1 movement.
- Cavalry have 2 armour, 3 attack, 8 hitpoints, 6 movement.
- Archers have 1 armour, 4 attack, 4 hitpoints, 1 movement.
Units always start 6 spaces apart. A unit can either move or attack during its turn, it cannot do both. Damage dealt to HP = Attack - Armour. The winner is the first one to reduce the opponent to 0 HP.
- Infantry vs Cavalry - Infantry always wins (the Cavalry never pierces the Infantry's Armour)
- Cavalry vs Archers - Cavalry always wins
- Archers vs Infantry - Archers always win.
Its the same idea as rock paper scissors but with actual "game mechanics." This is the principle used to balance PVP games, although usually it is more nuanced. For example, class A will hard counter Class B, but will only have a slight advantage vs Class C and be on even ground vs Class D. The idea is the system as a whole is balanced, even if individual match ups are not. It is entirely possible for a game to be both balanced and to have deep mechanics as well as fun game play. Just because it is exceptionally difficult to do (and not something to expect in a single player game, there is no reason for balance to exist in a single player game since there is no competition), doesn't mean that it is not possible. These aren't mutually exclusive terms.
People who enjoy solving every problem, from a knight on plate armor to a iron golem with a fast swinging blade already has 652.64156415649 games to play. Why a single game being great to arcane fans is a bad thing? When the game is far easier to solo as a melee warrior(mainly on chapter 1)
If by this game, you mean Pathfinder, it is absolutely not easier to play solo with a melee warrior. I have soloed it 4 times, I have my own experience to show for it.