I’ll experiment with some adjustments. I definitely don’t want people to be unable to complete the game. Counter spells are supposed to be more difficult, but I do see people really struggling with them from time-to-time, and obviously I don’t want them to be that hard.
What I’ll probably do is add a stage between perfect and partial where you can still nullify a spell if you input the first three symbols correctly, regardless of how many signs there are. Also, keep in mind that easy mode increases the timer by 20%, so if you’re not playing on easy mode, that may help!