You can play XII without a guide, just be mindful that most of the game features outside of the main storyline assume that the player will want to explore and try, like, every single solution to sometimes ambiguous clues that you can think of.

Without the desire to explore beyond the main storyline, you'll miss some summons and a number of items created from "rare" drops that you very likely wouldn't come across without doing a lot of fighting/farming and keeping track of what various enemies dropped.

Definitely commit to doing the hunts. They will actually help facilitate some of the exploration you'll need to find some of the "hidden" stuff.