If you are only in it for the story, you are probably better off just watching the cutscenes on Youtube, though you will lose a lot of the narrative from talking to NPCs cause they are actually pretty relevant and fill in details the main story tends to leave out. Yet, like Guardian XIII mentioned, the game is structured more as a well... game and not an interactive movie. If you prefer just having your story, the above suggestion is probably best cause XII has points in the game where you can go hours before seeing a cutscene, partly from getting easily sidetracked and the other cause the game is a bit more realistic about traveling on foot. Most people I know give up on the game by the time you have to go to Archades and Giruvegan.

Towards the end, the Mark Hunts become a bit more story focus, and some actually resolve most of the loose ends (The Kiltean Church, Ba'Gamman, Clan Centurio) but really the game is built around exploring a world and checking out its mysteries. If you don't explore you miss out on the Patient in the Desert Quest, The Seven Sisters quest, the secret of the Westersands Sandstorms, the Fishing Minigame, The Cactoid Family quest, The Hunt Club, the Espers, and of course Jovy

None of these have to do with the plot but they make the world feel more real imo. Hell, several of the Mark Hunts in themselves are pretty fun, like Pilika's pets, unknowingly fetching Migelo some ingredients, Traditional Ivalice quest of hunting down "Carrot", and of course fighting some old school FF bosses like Deathgaze and Gilgamesh.