I've played CN and didn't have any trouble with any of these two chests/quest, but then again, i probalbly never used the 'Open/Close' cantrip on them.
I use that spell on anything that might have a trap on it. But instead of setting the trap off from a distence it voids the trap and it doesn't effect at all.
They need to adjust the "open/Close" spell to function like opening the item up close.
And any quest chests to be blocked from follower looting.
Yes , i agrre somewhat, but keep in mind that Open/close is a lvl 0 spell and isn't SUPPOSED to bypass locks and traps. You have to use lvl 2 spell Knock for that.
AFAIK all the trapped chests in the game is also locked so don't bother using Open on them, it's useless.