True Earth and Wind casting times...

[Role]

Is it just me, or does the True Earth and Wind runes have about TWICE the casting times of the other True Element runes? My guess is that since their bearers get natural S Ranks in those respective skills, it was an attempt to perhaps balance it, or maybe because you fight them, it could be to give the player a fighting chance...

Or I read the tables wrong, it could be that, too...

[RangerDeon]

could be because of Sasarai's and Luc's skill with their corresponding runes.
Plus they are primary mages, so I think that plays a factor (though don't quote me on that one)

[eldrasidar]

certainly the fact that they have an S rank makes it significantly faster than the on paper, particularly since for the other three true runes, the highest natural skill ranks is geddoe's A in lightning or fire, and chris's b+ in water.
so for each caster to cast naturally the longest casting time spell the times would be:
true earth = 54.75MOV
true wind = 54.75 MOV
true fire = 52.5 MOV
true lightning =52.5 MOV
true water=57.75 MOV
all of which are basically the same.

Now obviously you can boost fire or lightning up to S pretty easily(water with magic ring much less easily) with various equipment, at which point they would become 26.25 MOV, but they are supposed to be the attack runes so that makes sense.
The earth rune's slowness is pretty normal, if you look at suikoden games, in general the earth rune is usually slower than the others. the wind rune is usually fast though, and that's strange.

more interesting perhaps is what happens to the base casting times for spells between the true runes and the corresponding higher level rune(true fire and rage for example)

look at the cost difference for the three spells each rune has in common(spells 2,3,4 of the weaker rune, and 1,2,3 of the true rune)

cyclone to true wind
175->165, 225->230, 275->300
Mother Earth to true Earth
200->175, 290->275, 310->300
rage to true fire
220->100, 265->125, 335->150
thunder to true lightning
205->95, 275->125, 330->145
flowing to true water
145->65, 200->90, 295->125

...yes that's right, it's faster for luc to cast using a cyclone rune than his true rune for funeral wind and shining wind, which is just ridiculous. Meanwhile sasarai gets only modest improvements in casting time, and the other three true runes get ridiculous cuts in casting time exceeding 50%

I would have to agree that it seems with Luc that they have tried to balance him out since you have to fight him often with Yuber and Sarah, fast casters themselves. Certainly my recollection is that I was only ever able to cast faster than them reliably with Geddoe's true Lightning, so it seems to be pretty well balanced, if not annoying. It's unfortunate that sasarai's isn't faster. I mean you never really fight him seriously(you duel him, which doesn't use his rune, and only face him in war battles you are going to lose by default). so there isn't any reason his rune couldn't be stronger, other than making his level 2 earthquake slightly broken.

[eldrasidar]

i forgot that if you add jeane's addition of 6% off rune casting modifier, which makes S ranked true water cast it's longest spell in 14.85 MOV or S ranked true fire or lightning in 15.75 MOV, which makes all of them over 3 times faster than Luc, in fact, it makes them so much faster that they can cast their strongest spells faster than his weakest(and thereby quickest casting time).

on a similar note yuiri, big and little viki, or thomas(the only 4 that can get up to S, given there only being a single wind ring), using a cyclone rune, with a pumped up to S rank in wind magic and the aid of jeane in support, can also cast higher level wind magic faster than Luc, with the obvious exception of eternal wind, true wind's 4th level spell. That's really sad for a villain, when you can be outdone so easily, especially with your own specialty.

Obviously with the jongleur rune, you can decrease the casting times even more, but you've already outspeeded Luc just by using jeane, so it seems unnecessary, besides you'd probably rather use song of madness anyway. however you would have to use the jongleur rune if you wished to beat Sarah on her Pale Gate Rune(she being the only one in the game with an S).

[KFCrispy]

i think True Wind and True Water were purposely made to be slower because they can easily 1-shot your party. Players would have to prepare too much to be able to get through some sections or rely too much on luck (like them choosing not to cast anything or Wind of Sleep working) and soft resets just to get through a section.
It is true that most of these battles with Luc and Sarah are optional to win, but that may not have been planned when the runes were designed.

Rune Casting Times: http://suikosource.com/games/gs3/guides/runecasting.php