JRPGs starting to become all about stripping?

[Dice]

From what I understand, the themes of Catherine seem to involve the nightmares of sexual deviance so it's a key part of the storyline. 

Pretty much this.  It's meant to be about sex.  Something like Agarest or Ar Tonelico are doing it more for the exploitation.... unless taking off more clothes really do make a person stronger (ref. ArT3).
I'm curious to see how Catherine handles the sex part, though the way they handled "character issues" before, I'm not too worried... I think it'll be dirty, but still somewhat tasteful.  At least your leads are intriguing.

It's hard to explain though...

Catherine seems to BE manipulative and frightening and some sort of being *MEANT* for this sexy stuff.
Katherine seems to carry herself though, she's got glasses, but she's doesn't by any means seem to be a bookworm (I'm speculating, sue me).  Persona creators have done a good job handling characters to be more than just meat, they've got some depth!

Ar Tonelico feels much more of an excuse to see girls play dress-up (or "dress-off" in AT3) in silly situations more than serious depth - it feels like it came second almost.  Chasing girls into their subconscious to reveal typical anime tropes was so hokey...

[Cyril]

Ar tonelico 3 goes a bit overboard, I agree, but I think 1 and 2 aren't that bad and you're really giving them a hard time when other games deserve it more.  Other than the innuendo, I don't really see a lot of sex and undressing in those games. The only one I can really think of is Misha's large T-Shirt stage and Aurica's Demon level, but even that has a reason for it and isn't blatantly "I want to have sex with you."  Ar tonelico 2 has even less sexual bits in the Cosmosphere.  I can't even think of any outside of Luca's.
Clothes changing isn't undressing.

And yes, the Catherine image is hilarious.

Edit: Pic related, it's Ar tonelico 3 overdoing it.  I love AT1 and 2, but I am honestly not comfortable with the idea of 15-year-old girls undressing as they become stronger, even if they aren't really human.
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3329/32764141.jpg

[Dice]

Ar tonelico 3 goes a bit overboard, I agree, but I think 1 and 2 aren't that bad and you're really giving them a hard time when other games deserve it more.  Other than the innuendo, I don't really see a lot of sex and undressing in those games. The only one I can really think of is Misha's large T-Shirt stage and Aurica's Demon level, but even that has a reason for it and isn't blatantly "I want to have sex with you."  Ar tonelico 2 has even less sexual bits in the Cosmosphere.  I can't even think of any outside of Luca's.
Clothes changing isn't undressing.

And yes, the Catherine image is hilarious.

Yeah, I thought I went overboard too...  I don't know.  The cosmosphere's to me were boring and idiotic attemps (like I said) to hit the anime tropes.  Doing them as necessity to get stronger was even more dreary.  I hated the cutscenes, but I *did* find the characters okay when it came to personal, non cosmosphere, related depth.  Sorry, I didn't mean to poo-poo the title... just the dialogue dragged on for me waay too much and the chapter where you're at that weird plane (an all white ship for Cloche, and a night-time-festival-looking thing for Luca's path) just sucked nuts.  Dialogue was focused at sheer bitching and redemption.
I didn't play the first title - reviews (and money at the time) steered me away. 

That, and Jaqli or Jakuri (however you know her) from AT2...her bikino outfit and crotch-strap was largely disturbing haha

From the bit I've seen with AT3, I didn't care much for them - and it just got messy with all these alternate-personalities of the girls just kept running amock.  But maybe it'll be better when I play it in mein native language.

[Lord Scottish]

The word on the street (and by the street I mean Neogaf) is that Criminal Girls is selling well below NIS's expectations.

This, combined with the fact that My Wife bombed, gives me hope for humanity.

[Ashtrot]

RE: Catherine poster

Maybe she has teeth in her snatch.

[Chronix112]

The word on the street (and by the street I mean Neogaf) is that Criminal Girls is selling well below NIS's expectations.

I would be surprised if it met their  sells expectations. That game is in the niche among niches to begin with. Only the most jaded. I must have ecchi fanservice and i don't care how bad it is people are going to pay full price for that.

[cj_iwakura]

There's creepy, and then there's just 'call Chris Hansen'. I'm glad that game is bombing.

[Mickeymac92]

Yeah, the loli/moe/other-fake-Japanese-word characters in Criminal Girls aren't doing it for me, either. I'll probably avoid it if it ever comes to the states.

[Cyril]

You don't even need to visit NeoGAF (I don't) to know it sold below expectations.  NIS said Expectations were 50,000.  It sold around 20,000.

Source is Siliconera.
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/09/05/nippon-ichi-hope-to-sell-50000-copies-of-criminal-girls/
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/11/24/this-week-in-sales-black-ops-levels-up-criminal-girls-subdued/

And just because I'm anal, the game isn't a NIS game.  It was developed by Imageepoch. The same Imageepoch that seeks to "reinvent" the JRPG "genre." NIS is the publisher.

Though, in its defense, I'm told it's actually fun if you like dungeon crawlers. It ends up something like Agarest: while the advertisements are all about fanservice, the game definitely doesn't revolve around it.

[Lazlowe1984]

RE: Catherine poster

Maybe she has teeth in her snatch.

*pukes*

[Annubis]

That, and Jaqli or Jakuri (however you know her) from AT2...her bikino outfit and crotch-strap was largely disturbing haha

Technically, she didn't wear clothes for 300 or so years. They just 'made' her and locked her up in a room to sing.
Be glad people actually succeeded in having her wear something.
Probably as hard as putting clothes on a 2 year old child that isn't being cooperative.

(man...  why am I defending AT so often lately? am I the local AT fanboy or what?)

[ZeronHitaro]

That, and Jaqli or Jakuri (however you know her) from AT2...her bikino outfit and crotch-strap was largely disturbing haha

Technically, she didn't wear clothes for 300 or so years. They just 'made' her and locked her up in a room to sing.
Be glad people actually succeeded in having her wear something.
Probably as hard as putting clothes on a 2 year old child that isn't being cooperative.

(man...  why am I defending AT so often lately? am I the local AT fanboy or what?)

I'd actually chime into this to say that Jaqli was actually pretty tame. Go to the beach sometime Dice. American swimsuits these days are far more disturbing.

Although if you want a videogame comparison to blow Jaqli out of the "disturbing water" and back into tame territory; how about Tron Bonne from Megaman Legends? Hell as a kid her wardrobe disturbed me. Who in their freaking sane mind BOLTS a METAL CROTCH PLATE onto themselves?

[Tomara]

The weird thing about Jacli is that she looks exactly like that girl from the manga Naru Taru who also likes not wearing clothes and

Code:

destroying the world.