Why do spells only do damage to all enemies once?

[FinalBob42]

When I cast Fire the first time, all enemies get hurt. After that however, only one does. Why is this? How can you cause area damage multiple times?

[Lady_luck_lulu]

if your all materia has 2 stars it can damage all enemies twice, but your all materia must be connected with your fire materia!

[DJZen]

The support materia "All" allows you to cast a spell on all targets on a side (either all opponents or all members of your party), but it can only do this as many times as its own level. At one star, you can only cast a spell on all targets once. At two, you can do it twice. I believe that at its final level of growth it allows for infinite casting on all targets, but I can't quite remember. Also, you have to press R1 or L1 to target all :D

[Dr.K]

It'd be an idea to check to see if your fire spell is joined with an 'all' materia in a linked materia slot. If it is, this is the reaosn for the multiple casting the first time round. The number of stars on the materia status screen corresponds to how many times you can use this 'all' function, and to get more stars you need to gain AP by fighting battles with that materia equipped. Keep in mind as well that the "all" material makes a spell about *2/5ths weaker than if it is cast on one target. Some spells in the game can only be casted on all foes also.

*This fraction is a complete guess, but seems to fit - it is by this fraction that "quadra magic" supported spells are weakened by.

[UltimaLimit]

When mastered, I believe All takes effect 10 times. (Doesn't really matter, though, because if they're not dead the 10th time around you need something a little stronger than Fire.)