Is it implied that the different phase transitions of - say water - are related to the various ways symmetry can break? This makes sense intuitively, I think: Ice -> liquid you are changing size a bit but liquid water still has some transient structure at the molecular level; liquid -> gas you are changing size a lot and gaining rotational + translational invariance? These symmetries I think make sense if you think about water the individual water molecules are doing during the various phases.
