I think starting out at level 1 would be alright if not for the fact that the game spans only ten levels. BG3 has a level cap of 10 which seems really dull. That shit was alright back in BG1 where the whole concept of a game like that was an all-new thing, but in this day and age, having the (supposedly) definitive 5e video game end at level 10 is disappointing.
IIRC 5th edition has 'compressed' things quite significantly, so a level 10 character in 2nd edition is actually noteably weaker than a level 10 in 5th edition.