I remember BG1 starting at 1st level, getting to that first Inn with Imoen and repeatedly getting my ass kicked. There was like a Bounty Hunter or some type of fighter there that repeatedly tore me apart, and that was like the first thing you were supposed to do in the game.
On the plus side, Baldur’s Gate was really amazing, here was the graphically rich DnD adventure that I always wanted to play. For its time I thought it was really an extraordinary experience.
I think starting characters off at level 4 or so would probably even out an awful lot of the really rough patches. Level 1 and 2 characters are just super fragile.