Does it get easier to climb ladders as you raise the athletics skill of party members? Right now, I cannot even go up ladders in the toad village, but only one party member even has athletic skill. If it does not become easier (heck, possible) to go up & down ladders, this game will become shelfware. The list of problems - even with the patch - is just too long to tolerate.
First the install failed (three times), my Paladin can't get credit for giving the elixer to Mekdkawa (who is the most annoying character I've ever had to deal with in an RPG), I can't get past the toad villagers in the tunnels. I'm having fun with the game when it works as (I think it was) intended -- although I keep blasting myself with certain spells -- yet, these playability bugs are just outweighing the fun. I'd appreciate any feedback on the ladder question with respect to that skill (or some other skill?)

• Athletics helps absorb the damage ...,Llevram, 09:45 AM, Mar-13-01
  • RE: Athletics helps absorb the damage ...,Rjsmith -ur, 10:21 AM, Mar-13-01
• RE: ladders and athletics,Radek, 01:07 AM, Mar-26-01

... you sustain from using ladders. I have not heard of anything that makes ladders navigable (other than what was already posted).

I had basically the same feeling about the game - had great pootential but the interface was a serious toadblock

Tools for your Wizardry(r) toolkit

I worked in software development / QA for five years. I'd just like to know how the developers and QA testers actually got past this toad blocking the road thing during their play testing; likewise, how did they manage the ladders. I mean, if they had to have a special meeting, "look, team, ladders are hard but they're all over the game world, here's the special secret, unintuitive trick you need to know to use ladders...." I mean, why didn't anyone flag this and say, hey, let's fix this little problem here. Or, at least, acknowledge in the readme file that if you don't get your kicks from wrestling with the user interface, here's the little trick you need to enjoy the part of the game you wanted to enjoy.
I mean, at this point I have $40 and about 20 hours invested in this thing and I want to get past this petty crap, but it's taking its toll.

The Athletics skill has nothing common with climbing ladders. Nor any other skill is needed to climb them.
After getting crazy with my attempts to climb them, I discovered that the ladders are ONE-SIDED. You must try the side where you see the cross-pieces. "Go forward" from this side of the ladder and you will climb up. Trying to climb the opposite side is futile. I still don't know how to climb the ladders DOWN. I would like to know...
As far as the bugs are concerned, I agree.