Hard to really compare these franchises.

Final Fantasy has been a whole different game each time, new battle systems, characters always change, stories different, enimies are different, it's not consistent like Zelda, it's much more difficult to mess up because people have to love the new characters and story all over again. It'd be better to compare Sonic or even Resident Evil with Zelda.

Me answering this question is pointless because I'll played pretty much every FF and I've only played like 4 or 5 Zelda games, so I'm too one sided to start.

Zelda by a mile. It is strange that those two are compared so much as they are so different.

Zelda, obviously. It's not even close for me.

Zelda games are better and more consistent in my opinion.

Also, because of the original (Saving. Also, it basically paved the way for RPGs like Final Fantasy) and Ocarina of time (overall transition to 3d world, locking/Z targeting, context sensitive controls) I think Zelda has been more influential in gaming as a whole.

They might be hard to compare because of different genres. But Zelda is also undoubtly the greatest franchise in it's respective genre. Action adventure or whatever you want to call. Fact is, similar games are often just described as 'like Zelda' or something. You could definately make the argument that FF is the greatest JRPG franchise but it wouldn't be as clear cut (I prefer Chrono for example)

To me, without any question the answer is Final Fantasy. I have not played all of them but at least the most important one : FF7, FF9, FF tactics war of lion and so on.

Zelda has potential, but I find the games to be too much simple and lacking story wise. FF games, while lacking of elements too are more engaging due to well writed storyline. Don't like the gameplay of Zelda that much too, I find it to simple. I am not a huge fan of FF either nor RPG but FF win for me. WindWaker HD, FF tactics and FF6 are gems amongst gem though and one of my all time favorite games. Though choice but FF for me. 

All true, but I think a lot of the results will divide along console loyalty lines and associate FF with Playstation.

Zelda is boring and overrated, final fantasy is amazing and exciting

Games: The Legend of Zelda.

Music: Tie. Both had many many excellent tunes.

I remember liking Ocarina of Time but the combat was pretty bad. The SNES Zelda games are unplayable to me now, unlike the SNES FF games.

Young people may. When I used to play these games, I found myself going back to FF 1, 2 and 6 more than 7, 8 and 9. Despite the improved graphics, the way that the later games restricted movement and exploration over earlier tile map games lost some of the fun for me. I thus never associated FF with Playstation any more than with the NES or SNES.

On topic, as a young person I would certainly have voted for FF in this poll. But interests change over the years, and I find that Zelda's appeal is more cross-generational. People tend to outgrow stories designed to appeal to young people. Because of this, it's more difficult for me to enjoy the FF games I used to like. The perceived disadvantage of Zelda's simple stories becomes a strength. By focusing on puzzles, discovery and adventure, Zelda manages to put us in the role of Indiana Jones, and that's a role that appeals to a far wider age range than the stories of Terra, Cloud or Zidane.

Zelda has all of those things with each release also...