I hear what your saying that with the way things are it's no longer needed.
Maybe I'm just wording it wrong. Say you are out in the field right and you find that perfect variant of the sheep girl and you haven't come across one like her before.
Why not allow a system so you can have a personal model? This way if you want pics to be of her posing for the camera and the like, and she would still be there.
So even if there is no need for follow system, and the game is NOT about housing or capturing can't there be something for like a personal photoshoot or like a teleport where you pick from selection of variants of each type and it would bring one closer to you.