However, if I did have companions I would more prefer to have a lot of companions that I didn't care about than a few companions I did.
The reason being this: once companions are dead they're dead. Usually this leads to an OCD complex where I feel like I have to keep them alive usually resulting in me just leaving them somewhere so they don't get hurt.
If I had a bunch of them that I didn't care about like in Oblivion I would probably be more inclined to actually have them in battle with me to to be of some use rather than just shoving them aside to keep them alive. Not only that but if I only had a few companions and they all died then I'd have no more companions. If it were like in Oblivion where I could get multiple followers then it wouldn't be a big deal because there are more of them.
Edit: Besides character depth and story really aren't strong points of Bethesda so I'm not going to expect it from them