Yes, QM, it's never used for ordinary, amicable, reported conversation. We use 'and he goes [quote]' or 'I'm like ' [ e.g[What do you mean?] for that ! And I also defend , 'He goes/went....so I go/went...' and 'I'm like..and he's like.' as conveying more than the simple 'I said....and he replied' because the first is suggesting the emphatic nature of the utterances,and something of the atmosphere, and, in the second the speaker is suggesting a mood, often with actions or looks accompanying the narrative, to recreate the scene for the hearer.
It's notable that speakers who use these substitutes for 'said' do not do so exclusively. The same reported conversation may have them using 'said' as well as the other verbs and they do use 'said' at other times. 'Replied', however, is not part of their vocabulary, but, to be fair to them, it's not a big part of my own. Most people,I think, use 'said' when 'replied' could be used, in informal speech.