Minecraft uses imagination more than terraria, and terraria has more action in it, fighting, bosses etc. True thing is that both games are awesome, but sure thing is that you can play Minecraft much longer than terraria not getting bored.
Minecraft has many times more content than Terraria, but as said above. Terraria has more weapons and fighting :P. Terraria is just awesome with 3-4ppl. So is Minecraft.
My answer is.. Minecraft. You can still have your fights in it too. Cave-exploring etc.
From what I have seen terraria looks awesome. So I bought it but I haven't been able to play it because the XNA framework won't install for some reason and I keep getting an error.