One more note on the lockpicking, and it caught me before i realized I was doing it. I noted in your post that you clicked many times and could not open the lock. This may seem simple, but as I said it caught me, you need to wait while your rogue goes through the motions of picking the lock. Watch the character as he/she bends down and fumbles at the lock, takes a few seconds, then the lock should open. Same with disarming traps, although "searching" seems to be instantaneous.
It strikes me that (and I'm not suggesting we actually do this, too much work) the best way to have implemented traps in this engine would have been through dialogue. You'd click on a trap and get a description of it, perhaps limited by your pertinent skill scores, and then options on what to attempt to do with it (like Liv's electrical). Then a roll could still be made based on your choices and modified by your skills, and then pass or fail. IMO that would have been a lot more engaging than "Hey there's a trap! Click it!"
random aside - further to what gaear said, i really enjoy the lockpicking 'minigame' from Oblivion - and the hacking from bioshock etc. The ability of those games to change the pace of play without breaking immersion really strikes me as good game design. end random aside.
Hillsfar had a fantastic lockpicking minigame. Hillsfar? You know? The forgotten D&D CRPG? Awww come on, surely SOMEONE played it??? :nervous: