Here’s something you probably didn’t notice until now, but now that you know it you’re going to slap your forehead in amazement: you never physically climb a ladder in any of the Elder Scrolls games or Fallout 3. It’s completely true, and really weird considering how much ladder climbing actually occurs in gaming. Think about it. People climb ladders all the time in games.
Why isn’t it in these two Bethesda series? According to Bethesda’s Game Director, Todd Howard, at QuakeCON it’s because the engine used for both of them just can’t handle ladder climbing. It causes problems with the game’s AI for some reason.
It’s clear that the games don’t really need climbable ladders as they are clearly high quality without the runged tools, but Howard says it is still bothersome. “One day, we tried to figure out why we wanted ladders so bad because we don’t really need them. It just felt like we’re game development pussies because we can’t do ladders,” he said.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Why There Are No Ladders In Fallout [IGN, via TVGB]
