I would probably recommend a walkthrough on hand if it's your first runthrough with "Lightning Returns". The ticking clock dynamic can be a real pain in the tail on first playthrough and if you go at it blind you're likely going to have to play through it twice (which, if you're not enjoying it can be a little rough) so you can manage your time better. I wouldn't follow the walkthrough to the letter, as that would suck all the joy out of the playthrough, but do what I did when I replayed it recently and glance at the walkthrough every once in a while for main quests that are taking too long to work out so as you can complete them in a timely fashion.

"Lightning Returns" can be a really fun time when you know what you're doing. I liked it a lot more than XIII-2 once I knew how to stack my time properly.