First of all, I sense some hostility here, and I don't want to make people any more upset or defensive than they are. This isn't directly against Armageddon. However, I agree with the reviewer on the point of there being nothing to do. I've experienced the same thing when trying out RPIs. If there is nobody around to roleplay with...there's nothing to do. You can't even explore very much, because newbies are so weak and death is permanent.
I like quests. I don't see how an NPC asking you, "Hello, could you do a favor for me?" means things are being handed to you. If the quest is still a difficult puzzle you have to work out, it is still challenging. A game shouldn't be challenging just to find something to do. Fun isn't a reward for only skilled players. It is a game--it should be fun for everyone at every level.
Furthermore, why is it that having quests and having an interactive world is more common on hack and slash than RPI. When I can talk to NPCs and have them answer me semi-intelligently; when I can get a shovel and dig a hole in the ground, and have there be a hole now in that room, and maybe then bury something in the hole, and then be tired from all that digging; when the goblins refuse to trade with me anymore because yesterday I killed a few of them...that makes me feel like the mud is more than just a backdrop set. It is a world that my character is an integral part of, and that makes me roleplay better.
Emoting at unresponsive NPCs and imagining that they've responded isn't interaction...so how can it really be roleplay? And yet it tends to be that H&S have code to make the world interact with the players, and the RPIs are just background to the players' emoting.
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